BEIJING, Dec. 26 -- An average middle class citizen in Beijing earns 256,016 yuan (39,528 U.S. dollars) per year, the highest among Chinese cities, according to a research report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

The "social blue paper" features the profiles of middle class citizens in three of the country's most developed cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

According to the paper, an average middle class citizen in Shanghai earns 219,770 yuan annually, and in Guangzhou they earn 170,037 yuan each.

The average annual income of the middle class is approximately 200,000 yuan, 3.5 times the average of the lower strata.

According to the criteria, 55 percent of the population in Beijing is middle class, in Shanghai it is 51 percent and Guangzhou 42.5 percent.

Citing the report, Zhang Haidong, a Shanghai University professor who participated in the research, said that over 60 percent of the middle class are home owners and more than half own cars, while only 13.6 percent of people from groups below the medium strata have cars.

The majority of middle class citizens work in the private sector, the report said.

An average middle class citizen reads 12 books per year, and 62 percent buy food in supermarkets, compared with 37.6 percent of the less wealthy group choosing to do so, instead they prefer the cheaper street markets.

The research compared people's awareness of their social status today with five years ago. It was found that 48.8 percent of interviewees in Beijing and 61 percent in Shanghai, identify as middle class now, while it was 30 percent in Beijing, 48 percent in Shanghai half a decade ago.