Goal is part of scheme to quadruple country's per capita GDP by 2020

BEIJING) China hopes to grow its middle class to more than half of its population by the end of the next decade, a Communist Party planner said yesterday. The goal is part of a plan to quadruple China's per capita gross domestic product by 2020, said Zheng Xinli, vice-minister of the Communist Party's Central Policy Research Office.

A bigger middle class will also challenge the government to provide greater social security and services and better education systems, Mr Zheng said at a news conference. 'A growing middle-income population will ensure that more people will benefit from reform so that our reform will be endorsed and supported by more people,' he said.

Middle class is classified by the government as a family with a household income of between 60,000 yuan (S$11,860) and 200,000 yuan a year, Mr Zheng said.

Taking into account price changes, authorities project that by 2020 a little more than half of the country's families will be middle class, and 78 per cent of those will be in cities, he said.