Urbanite's wallets fattening faster than China's GDP (2)

China's GDP expanded 7.7 percent from the previous year in the first three quarters in 2012, a lag of 2.1 percentage points behind the national income growth rate.

Urban per capita disposable income in eight regions towers over the national level, with Shanghai, Beijing, and Zhejiang ranking one, two and three.

Shanghai became the richest, with per capita disposable income standing at 30,205 yuan in the January-September period, making it the only region exceeding 30,000 yuan.

But the income increase rates in eastern regions including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Tianjin were slower than the national speed partly due to their high income bases.

The income gap between eastern and western regions is still noticeable, the data indicated.

Chinese officials are sometimes blamed for overemphasizing GDP and neglecting the welfare directly concerning people's livelihood.

China recently vowed to double its 2010 per capita income for both urban and rural residents by 2020, on the basis of making the country's development much more balanced, coordinated and sustainable.

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