Harbin’s achievements in improving living standards

The average annual wage of on-post workers and staffs increased from 710 yuan in 1978 to 67,542 yuan in 2017 which was 95.1 times that of 1978, with an average annual increase of 12.4 percent.

Per capita disposable income of urban residents increased from 295.5 yuan in 1978 to 35,546 yuan in 2017 which was 120.7 times that of 1978, with an average annual increase of 13.1 percent.

Per capita disposable income of rural residents increased from 126 yuan in 1978 to 15,614.2 yuan in 2017 which was 123.9 times that of 1978 with an average annual increase of 13.2 percent.

Employment numbers increased from 2.318 million in late 1978 to 5.055 million in late 2017 with an increase of 2.737 million from 1978, an average annual increase of 700,000 or 2 percent. The registered unemployed rate in towns has remained steady over the years. In 2017, the registered unemployment rate in towns was 3.68 percent which was 0.32 percent lower than the official policy.  

The balance of RMB deposits increased from 260 million yuan in late 1978 to 493.84 billion yuan in late 2017 which was 1889.4 times more than 1978.

Per capita consumption expenditure (CONSP) of urban residents increased from 368.4 yuan in 1980 to 25,678.8 yuan in 2017 which was 69.7 times that of 1980 with an average annual increase of 12.2 percent.

CONSP of rural residents increased from 318.9 yuan in 1985 to 10,197.4 yuan in 2017 which was 32 times that of 1985 with an average annual increase of 11.4 percent.

The food consumption of urban residents has changed from the traditional dietary concept of eating well to a scientific, nutritional and healthy dietary habit, paying more attention to the macro-nutrient composition of food.

The Engel coefficient of urban households decreased from 54.6 percent in 1980 to 32.1 percent in 2017. And the Engel coefficient of rural households decreased from 57.6 percent in 1985 to 38 percent in 2017.

The average quantity of private cars per hundred urban households increased from 2.2 in late 2002 to 25.8 in 2017. 

The per capita living space of rural residents increased from 8.3 square meters in 1978 to 28.2 square meters in 2017.

In 2017, 7.28 million urban workers and residents had basic medical insurance (including the new rural cooperative medical insurance), 2.439 million urban workers had basic pension insurance, 974,000 workers had unemployment insurance, 1.353 million workers had employment injury insurance and 908,000 workers had maternity insurance.

In 2017, there were 430 nursing homes with 48,000 beds and 897 various community facilities. 2.17 million urban and rural residents had social endowment insurance.

In 2017, average monthly pensions for public enterprise retirees increased from 599 yuan to 2,407 yuan. The minimum living guaranteed standard for urban residents was 580 yuan per month for each person. And the minimum living standard for rural residents was 3,780 yuan per year for each person.