The image of today’s China is mostly that of modern megacities or of Chinese tourists buying luxury brands when travelling. Now data quoted in the current issue of the COTMI China Outbound Tourism Market Intelligence periodical show however a different reality.

4.6 million Chinese can be counted as Ultra-rich or “High Net Worth Individuals” (HNWIs), with an average wealth of 8 million Euro / 8.7 million USD, which together account to two thirds (67%) of all wealth. Another 99 million inhabitants of Mainland China own 26% of all wealth, or 150,000 Euro / 165,000 USD. The remaining 1.3 billion Chinese share among them just 7% of all wealth, with an average amount of 3,000 Euro / 3.300 USD.

The data were made public during a speech by a famous economist in Beijing, known for his outspokenness, Prof. Di Dongsheng, a researcher at the School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China. They have been widely distributed in Chinese social media beyond academic circles. Prof. Di pointed out that the social welfare spending for health care, pensions, childcare etc. as a percentage of GDP is only 6.5%, compared to the OECD average of 21.6%.

“For tourism service providers and luxury brands companies the new figures are a confirmation that only about 7% of the Chinese population are potential customers. In absolute numbers this is still an enormous group, which will however due to the slowing growth of China’s economy not increase as fast anymore as in pre-pandemic times.” Prof. Dr. Arlt, Editor in Chief of COTMI commented.

China is, in the words of Prof. Di, still far away from the era of “common prosperity”, which has been declared in many speeches by China’s leaders as a central goal. As it stands, Brazil and South Africa are the only bigger countries in the world with a more unequal distribution of wealth.