China has seen the greatest wealth gap since economic reforms began in 1978, the division that a serious threat to social stability, the government said.
The average annual income in cities in China was 17,175 yuan (1,685) last year, more than three times the average income of 5,153 yuan in rural areas, according to the National Statistics Office.
China Daily, a government official daily, said this was the biggest difference over three decades.
The growing gap between the prosperous cities of China and the vast interior is a serious threat to social stability, the government of unleashing a wave of protests related to the perception of social inequalities.
It has a growing number of mass incidents in recent years the gap between rich and poor, said Ye Yan, a professor at North China Institute of Science and Technology, was related to state media.
He said more than half of China's population in rural areas, but share less than 12 percent of the country's wealth. He added that no province that meet minimum international standards, but many executives in public companies have enormous profits.
The government is working on universal health care in the Chinese province of giving and build more infrastructure to create jobs and promote national industry.
However, the China Daily said investigators believed the differences continue to grow. I fear that the income gap will continue to grow as the country focuses its efforts on expanding urban, rural development, said Song Hongyuan, director of the Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, said Zhang Dongsheng, director of income distribution of the National Development and Reform Commission, the newspaper that the government , said most of what he has done to reduce inequality.
The news comes just before the annual meeting of the National People's Party, China's rubber-stamp parliament, in Beijing.
