Top one per cent control a third of China's wealth: Report PUBLISHED ON JUL 26, 2014 1:55 PM 11 45 0 0 PRINT EMAIL

Top one per cent control a third of China's wealth: Report

PUBLISHED ON JUL 26, 2014 1:55 PM

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Chinese businessmen walking past private business jets for sale during the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition at the Shanghai Hongqiao airport. The top one percent of households in Communist-ruled China control more than one third of the country's wealth, while the bottom 25 per cent control just one hundredth, official media said, citing an academic report. -- PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - The top one percent of households in Communist-ruled China control more than one third of the country's wealth, while the bottom 25 per cent control just one hundredth, official media said, citing an academic report.

The 2012 figures contained in a Peking University report released late Friday reveal the massive breadth of China's social inequality, a widespread source of anger in the country.

The wealth gap is also of significant concern for the ruling Communist Party, which places huge importance on preserving social stability to avoid any challenge to its grasp on power.

"One per cent of households at the top level nationwide control more than one third of the country's wealth. Twenty-five per cent of families at the bottom level only own one per cent of the country's wealth," the website of the People's Daily newspaper said late Friday in a report on the university's statistics.

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