中等收入群体 (zhōngděng shōurù qúntǐ): Middle-income group

Mao Shengyong, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, said recently that the population of China's middle-income group has exceeded 300 million according to a conservative calculation, and it accounts for about 30 percent of the middle-income group worldwide.

And a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimates about 450 million people belong to the middle-income group in China.

According to Mao, the middle-income group is based on the World Bank standard of adults earning $10 to $100 per day or $3,650 to $36,500 every year.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security proposes to further improve the income distribution system and further narrow the income distribution gap by 2020. And the middle-income group is expected to remarkably increase by 2035.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2017 more than 23 regions nationwide had increased their minimum wage standards, with the average increase more than 10 percent. And 22 provinces increased the guidelines for enterprises wage increases by 8 percent on average. At least 23 provinces and cities carried out income increase inspiration plans toward key groups.

In 2018, China will further deepen wage income distribution reform, which is crucial to comprehensively build a well-off society during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.