Social equality required to attain common prosperity

China should create more opportunities for the poor, reduce labor market discrimination and equalize basic public services to achieve common prosperity, said Song Yang, a professor at the School of Economics at Renmin University of China, during the latest Vision China event held in Beijing on Thursday.

The country aims to make substantial progress in achieving common prosperity by 2035 and basically fulfill this goal by 2050, according to the nation's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

China is on the right track to achieving common prosperity, which refers to all people being able to make a good living. The effort includes two components — growth and distribution, Song said during the event.

"For the growth component, it means people will have a better quality of life, earn higher incomes and see progress in human development in aspects such as education and health. For the distributional component, the target is that we would like to reduce inequality in all dimensions," Song said.

From 1978 to 2022, the annual per capita income increased substantially for both urban and rural families in China. The per capita figure for urban residents jumped from 343 yuan to 49,283 yuan ($47 to $6,777), while the per capita figure for rural residents increased from 134 yuan to 20,133 yuan during this period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's average life expectancy rose to 78.6 years last year, compared with just 57 years in 1957. The 2023 figure approached the levels of developed countries such as France, Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, according to the National Health Commission.

It's important to mention that urban-rural inequality is still large in China, even though the income gap between urban and rural families has been gradually narrowing. Other aspects include inequalities in infrastructure, education quality and human development, Song said.

He added that while China continues to promote economic growth by encouraging innovation and fair market competition, protecting private property and relying on new quality productive forces, it should continue to reduce inequality in all aspects.

"We don't want to sacrifice growth for reducing inequality, and we want to achieve both goals. That's the meaning of common prosperity," Song said.