This graph shows the average size of households in China from 1990 to 2023. That year, statistically about 2.8 people were living in an average Chinese household. Average household size in China A household is commonly defined as one person living alone or a group of people living together and sharing certain living accommodations. The average number of people living in one household in China dropped from 3.96 in 1990 to 2.87 in 2011. Since 2010, the figure was relatively stable and ranged between 2.87 and 3.17 people per household. The average Chinese household still counts as rather large in comparison to other industrial countries. In 2023, an average American household consisted of only 2.51 people. Comparable figures have already been reached in the bigger cities and coastal areas of China, but in the rural provinces the household size is still much larger. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the household size in China was diametrically correlated to its income. Birth rates and household sizes The receding size of Chinese households may be linked to the controversial one-child policy introduced in 1979. The main aim of the policy was to control population growth. While the fertility rate in China had been very high until the 1970s, it fell considerably in the following decades and resided at only 1.7 children per woman in 2018, nearly the same as in the United States or in the United Kingdom. A partial ease in the one-child policy was introduced in 2013, due to which couples where at least one parent was an only child were allowed to have a second child. In October 2015, the law was changed into a two-child policy becoming effective in January 2016.

In 2023, the number of people per household across different regions in China varied between around 2.3 in Heilongjiang province and 3.5 in Tibet. The national average was 2.8 people per household in 2023. The relation between household sizes, birth rates, and income In general, data on average household sizes as well as household income are often derived from the same national household survey. Therefore, average household sizes can be used to calculate per capita income from household income and vice versa. In many regions of China, a larger average household size correlates with lower income. At the same time, a strong positive correlation between household size and birth rate exists, which is in itself not surprising. Different household sizes across China In China, the largest average household sizes were recorded in the western part of the country, where birth rates are high. Lower medium figures prevailed in the prosperous coastal regions, while the lowest figures were recorded in the large municipalities and in Northeast China. The northeastern provinces, which are still dominated by their heavy industries, suffer from bad economic perspectives and population decline, which results in their smaller household sizes.

China Population: Average Household Size data was reported at 2.800 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.760 Person for 2022. China Population: Average Household Size data is updated yearly, averaging 3.150 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.430 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.620 Person in 2020. China Population: Average Household Size data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

Population: Average Household Size: Beijing data was reported at 2.460 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.440 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Beijing data is updated yearly, averaging 2.620 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.690 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.310 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Beijing data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

Population: Average Household Size: Guangdong data was reported at 2.860 Person in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.629 Person for 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Guangdong data is updated yearly, averaging 3.400 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2021, with 29 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.800 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.629 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Guangdong data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

In 2023, on average 2.4 people were living together in one household in urban areas of Beijing municipality in China. This figure did not change much over the course of the last decade.

Population: Average Household Size: Xinjiang data was reported at 3.050 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.000 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Xinjiang data is updated yearly, averaging 3.490 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.560 Person in 1987 and a record low of 2.813 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Xinjiang data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

The graph shows the size of urban households in China by income group. In 2012, households with a low to medium income had an average size of ***** people.

Population: Average Household Size: Yunnan data was reported at 3.090 Person in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.885 Person for 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Yunnan data is updated yearly, averaging 3.630 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2021, with 29 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.170 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.885 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Yunnan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

In 2023, households with only one or two persons accounted for more than 60 percent of all households in urban areas of Beijing municipality in China. The average household size in urban Beijing has been roughly stable at around 2.4 people per household over the last decade.

Population: Average Household Size: Henan data was reported at 3.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.960 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Henan data is updated yearly, averaging 3.410 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.730 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.855 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Henan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

In 2023, the average number of people living together in one household in the Shanghai municipality was approximately 2.62. The number of people per household has decreased slightly over the last decade.

Population: Average Household Size: Tianjin data was reported at 2.510 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.440 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Tianjin data is updated yearly, averaging 2.960 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.900 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.397 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Tianjin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

Population: Average Household Size: Jiangsu data was reported at 2.800 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.740 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Jiangsu data is updated yearly, averaging 3.040 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.910 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.596 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Jiangsu data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In 1930, China's fertility rate was 5.5 children per woman, and this number then dropped to just under five over the next fifteen years, as China experienced a civil war and the Second World War. The fertility rate rose rather quickly after this to over 6.1 in 1955, before dropping again in the late 1950s, as Chairman Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' failed to industrialize the nation, and resulted in widespread famine that killed an estimated 45 million people. In the decade following this, China's fertility rate reached it's highest level in 1970, before the implementation of the two-child policy in the 1970s, and the one-child policy** in the 1980s, which radically changed the population structure. The fertility rate fell to an all time low in the early 2000s, where it was just 1.6 children per woman. However this number has increased to 1.7 today, and the two-child policy was reintroduced in 2016, replacing the one-child policy that had been effective for over 36 years.

Population: Average Household Size: Shanghai data was reported at 2.450 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.400 Person for 2022. Population: Average Household Size: Shanghai data is updated yearly, averaging 2.610 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.600 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.317 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Shanghai data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

In 2024, the average annual per capita disposable income of households in China amounted to approximately 41,300 yuan. Annual per capita income in Chinese saw a significant rise over the last decades and is still rising at a high pace. During the last ten years, per capita disposable income roughly doubled in China. Income distribution in China As an emerging economy, China faces a large number of development challenges, one of the most pressing issues being income inequality. The income gap between rural and urban areas has been stirring social unrest in China and poses a serious threat to the dogma of a “harmonious society” proclaimed by the communist party. In contrast to the disposable income of urban households, which reached around 54,200 yuan in 2024, that of rural households only amounted to around 23,100 yuan. Coinciding with the urban-rural income gap, income disparities between coastal and western regions in China have become apparent. As of 2023, households in Shanghai and Beijing displayed the highest average annual income of around 84,800 and 81,900 yuan respectively, followed by Zhejiang province with 63,800 yuan. Gansu, a province located in the West of China, had the lowest average annual per capita household income in China with merely 25,000 yuan. Income inequality in China The Gini coefficient is the most commonly used measure of income inequality. For China, the official Gini coefficient also indicates the astonishing inequality of income distribution in the country. Although the Gini coefficient has dropped from its high in 2008 at 49.1 points, it still ranged at a score of 46.5 points in 2023. The United Nations have set an index value of 40 as a warning level for serious inequality in a society.

Abstract

China Living Standards Survey (CLSS) consists of one household survey and one community (village) survey, conducted in Hebei and Liaoning Provinces (northern and northeast China) in July 1995 and July 1997 respectively. Five villages from each three sample counties of each province were selected (six were selected in Liaoyang County of Liaoning Province because of administrative area change). About 880 farm households were selected from total thirty-one sample villages for the household survey. The same thirty-one villages formed the samples of community survey. This document provides information on the content of different questionnaires, the survey design and implementation, data processing activities, and the different available data sets.

Geographic coverage

The China Living Standards Survey (CLSS) was conducted only in Hebei and Liaoning Provinces (northern and northeast China).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The CLSS sample is not a rigorous random sample drawn from a well-defined population. Instead it is only a rough approximation of the rural population in Hebei and Liaoning provinces in Northeastern China. The reason for this is that part of the motivation for the survey was to compare the current conditions with conditions that existed in Hebei and Liaoning in the 1930’s. Because of this, three counties in Hebei and three counties in Liaoning were selected as "primary sampling units" because data had been collected from those six counties by the Japanese occupation government in the 1930’s. Within each of these six counties (xian) five villages (cun) were selected, for an overall total of 30 villages (in fact, an administrative change in one village led to 31 villages being selected). In each county a "main village" was selected that was in fact a village that had been surveyed in the 1930s. Because of the interest in these villages 50 households were selected from each of these six villages (one for each of the six counties). In addition, four other villages were selected in each county. These other villages were not drawn randomly but were selected so as to "represent" variation within the county. Within each of these villages 20 households were selected for interviews. Thus the intended sample size was 780 households, 130 from each county.

Unlike county and village selection, the selection of households within each village was done according to standard sample selection procedures. In each village, a list of all households in the village was obtained from village leaders. An "interval" was calculated as the number of the households in the village divided by the number of households desired for the sample (50 for main villages and 20 for other villages). For the list of households, a random number was drawn between 1 and the interval number. This was used as a starting point. The interval was then added to this number to get a second number, then the interval was added to this second number to get a third number, and so on. The set of numbers produced were the numbers used to select the households, in terms of their order on the list.

In fact, the number of households in the sample is 785, as opposed to 780. Most of this difference is due to a village in which 24 households were interviewed, as opposed to the goal of 20 households

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Household Questionnaire

The household questionnaire contains sections that collect data on household demographic structure, education, housing conditions, land, agricultural management, household non-agricultural business, household expenditures, gifts, remittances and other income sources, and saving and loans. For some sections (general household information, schooling, housing, gift-exchange, remittance, other income, and credit and savings) the individual designated by the household members as the household head provided responses. For some other sections (farm land, agricultural management, family-run non-farm business, and household consumption expenditure) a member identified as the most knowledgeable provided responses. Identification codes for respondents of different sections indicate who provided the information. In sections where the information collected pertains to individuals (employment), whenever possible, each member of the household was asked to respond for himself or herself, except that parents were allowed to respond for younger children. Therefore, in the case of the employment section it is possible that the information was not provided by the relevant person; variables in this section indicate when this is true.

The household questionnaire was completed in a one-time interview in the summer of 1995. The survey was designed so that more sensitive issues such as credit and savings were discussed near the end. The content of each section is briefly described below.

Section 0 SURVEY INFORMATION

This section mainly summarizes the results of the survey visits. The following information was entered into the computer: whether the survey and the data entry were completed, codes of supervisor’s brief comments on interviewer, data entry operator, and related revising suggestion (e.g., 1. good, 2. revise at office, and 3. re-interview needed). Information about the date of interview, the names of interviewer, supervisor, data enterer, and detail notes of interviewer and supervisor were not entered into the computer.

Section 1 GENERAL HOUSEHOLD INFORMATION

1A HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE 1B INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS’ PARENTS 1C INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHILDREN WHO ARE NOT LIVING IN HOME

Section 1A lists the personal id code, sex, relationship to the household head, ethnic group, type of resident permit (agricultural [nongye], non-agricultural [fei nongye], or no resident permit), date of birth, marital status of all people who spent the previous night in that household and for household members who are temporarily away from home. The household head is listed first and receives the personal id code 1. Household members were defined to include “all the people who normally live and eat their meals together in this dwelling.” Those who were absent more than nine of the last twelve months were excluded, except for the head of household. For individuals who are married and whose spouse resides in the household, the personal id number of the spouse is noted. By doing so, information on the spouse can be collected by appropriately merging information from the section 1A and other parts of the survey.

Section 1B collects information on the parents of all household members. For individuals whose parents reside in the household, parents’ personal id numbers are noted, and information can be obtained by appropriately merging information from other parts of the survey. For individuals whose parents do not reside in the household, information is recorded on whether each parent is alive, as well as their schooling and occupation.

Section 1C collects information for children of household members who are not living in home. Children who have died are not included. The information on the name, sex, types of resident permit, age, education level, education cost, reasons not living in home, current living place, and type of job of each such child is recorded.

Section 2 SCHOOLING

In Section 2, information about literacy and numeracy, school attendance, completion, and current enrollment for all household members of preschool age and older. The interpretation of pre-school age appears to have varied, with the result that while education information is available for some children of pre-school age, not all pre-school children were included in this section. But for ages 6 and above information is available for nearly all individuals, so in essence the data on schooling can be said to apply all persons 6 age and above. For those who were enrolled in school at the time of the survey, information was also collected on school attendance, expenses, and scholarships. If applicable, information on serving as an apprentice, technical or professional training was also collected.

Section 3 EMPLOYMENT

3A GENERAL INFORMATION 3B MAJOR NON-FARM JOB IN 1994 3C THE SECOND NON-FARM JOB IN 1994 3D OTHER EMPLOYMENT ACTIVITIES IN 1994 3E SEARCHING FOR NON-FARM JOB 3F PROCESS FOR GETTING MAJOR NON-FARM JOB 3G CORVEE LABOR

All individuals age thirteen and above were asked to respond to the employment activity questions in Section 3. Section 3A collects general information on farm and non-farm employment, such as whether or not the household member worked on household own farm in 1994, when was the last year the member worked on own farm if he/she did not work in 1994, work days and hours during busy season, occupation and sector codes of the major, second, and third non-farm jobs, work days and total income of these non-farm jobs. There is a variable which indicates whether or not the individual responded for himself or herself.

Sections 3B and 3C collect detailed information on the major and the second non-farm job. Information includes number of months worked and which month in 1994 the member worked on these jobs, average works days (or hours) per month (per day), total number of years worked for these jobs by the end of 1994, different components of income, type of employment contracts. Information on employer’s ownership type and location was also collected.

Section 3D collects information on average hours spent doing chores and housework at home every day during non-busy and busy season. The chores refer to cooking, laundry, cleaning, shopping, cutting woods, as well as small-scale farm yard animals raising, for example, pigs or chickens. Large-scale animal

As of January 2022, the largest share of Chinese middle-class families had an annual income of between *** thousand and *** thousand yuan per year. According to the same survey, almost ** percent of respondents have at least one child. Many middle-class families in China face significant financial burdens because not only do living costs continuously increase but they also often have to support their parents. In that case, one family has to care for four elders and least one kid.

Population: Average Household Size: Inner Mongolia data was reported at 2.450 Person in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.490 Person for 2021. Population: Average Household Size: Inner Mongolia data is updated yearly, averaging 2.935 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2022, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.510 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.351 Person in 2020. Population: Average Household Size: Inner Mongolia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.