China’s middle class is growing at a rapid rate with consumer expenditure on goods increasing as their disposable income per capita sky rockets. In the last ten years annual disposable income for urban households has increased from 1, 701 RMB in 1991 to 17,175. It is worthwhile noting that this data is for urban areas, China’s middle class is only 14% of their population. Much of China’s populous is still located in rural areas where the disposable income is much less. Still, there is no denying China’s growth in disposable income and the large migration to urban areas.
Consumer Credit
China’s populous is in the enviable position of being a largely savings orientated society, China is currently the world’s largest savings country. Most Chinese citizens are fiscally aware and only use their credit card or debit card for ATM usage or online to access their own funds.
However, as China increases it’s fast progression towards a more consumerist society credit card usage is growing. This growth is predominantly from the rising middle class with a large proportion of the credit card growth from the 24 to 35 year old demographic. Many young Chinese are using credit card comparison websites to find credit cards to help facilitate their insatiable desire for middle class goods.
Sustainability
With a growing middle class and high consumption rates a growing concern with the world’s largest population is how they will manage their sustainability and their increasingly important role in the world. China’s middle class is increasingly becoming aware and concerned for their impact on the environment. This has mostly been brought to their awareness by high levels of air pollution and low quality food production. It appears the solution to the rising awareness of sustainability is their existing need to improve these areas.
