"600 million people have a monthly income of only 1,000 yuan", is this data credible?

In recent days, the data of "600 million people with a monthly income of only 1,000 yuan" has caused heated discussions on the Internet, and some people have questioned the authenticity of this data. In fact, as early as late May 2020, this data caused heated discussions on the Internet, and a number of media published articles discussing this data at that time, the following picture is a screenshot of the article in Beijing Daily on May 30, 2020:

Screenshot of Beijing Daily on May 30, 2020

On June 15, 2020, according to the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, in response to the recent heated discussion in the society that "600 million people have a monthly income of 1,000 yuan", Fu Linghui, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, responded that according to relevant data in 2019, the population corresponding to 40% of the households in the low-income group and the lower-middle-income group is 610 million, with an annual per capita income of 11,485 yuan and a monthly per capita income of nearly 1,000 yuan.

Screenshot of a report by China News Network on June 15, 2020

I checked the "China Statistical Yearbook 2020", and Table 6-2 "Per Capita Disposable Income of National Residents Grouped by Income Quintile" shows that in 2019, the per capita disposable income of 20% of low-income households was 7,380.4 yuan (equivalent to an average of 615 yuan per month), and the per capita disposable income of 20% of lower-middle-income group households was 15,777 yuan (equivalent to an average of 1,315 yuan per month).

Table 6-2 of China Statistical Yearbook 2020

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Chinese population in 2019 was about 1.4 billion, with 20% of the population corresponding to 280 million people and 40% of the population corresponding to 560 million people. I don't know why Fu Linghui said that "40% of households correspond to 610 million people"? Based on a population of 1.4 billion, 610 million people correspond to 43.57% of the Chinese population. My estimation is that 20% of the 20% in Table 6-2 of the China Statistical Yearbook 2020 refers to households, not to population, and the number of people in each household is not necessarily the same.

In 2019, the average per capita disposable income of 20% of low-income families and 20% of lower-middle-income families was: (7380.4+15777)/2=11578.7 yuan, equivalent to an average of 965 yuan per month. Therefore, "600 million people have a monthly income of only 1,000 yuan", which is not much different from the data in the above table.

According to the explanation on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, the per capita disposable income of residents is the average of the disposable income of residents divided by the number of permanent residents. Disposable income, as the name suggests, is the income that residents can freely dispose of, which is the sum of the residents' final consumption expenditures and savings. This is based on the internationally accepted concept of disposable income, which includes both cash income and income in kind. According to the source of income, disposable income includes four items, namely salary income, net operating income, net property income and net transfer income.

It should be noted that the statistical objects of per capita disposable income include not only the employed population, but also the retired elderly, infants, young children, students and other non-employed population. Therefore, the average wage of the employed population is different from the per capita income of the entire household.

The data in the above table is the per capita disposable income of the national residents in 2019, while the per capita disposable income of the national residents grouped by income quintile in 2021 is shown in Table 6-2 of the China Statistical Yearbook 2022, as detailed in the following table:

Table 6-2 of China Statistical Yearbook 2022

According to the data in the above table, in 2021, the per capita disposable income of 20% of households in the low-income group was 8,332.8 yuan (equivalent to an average of 694.4 yuan per month), and the per capita disposable income of households in the lower middle income group was 18,445.5 yuan (equivalent to an average of 1,537 yuan per month).

In 2021, the average per capita disposable income of 20% of low-income families and 20% of lower-middle-income families is: (8332.8+18445.5)/2=13389 yuan, equivalent to an average of 1116 yuan per month.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Chinese population in 2021 was 1,412.6 million, with 20% of the population corresponding to 282.5 million people and 40% of the population corresponding to 565 million people.

It can also be seen from the above table that in 2021, the per capita disposable income of households in the 20% low-income group and the per capita disposable income of households in the 20% high-income group are about ten times different.