China's National Bureau of Statistics released household income and consumption figures for 2025 showing nationwide per‑capita disposable income of 43,377 yuan, up 5.0% in both nominal and price‑adjusted terms. The parity of nominal and real growth implies subdued inflationary pressure on incomes over the year, leaving purchasing power broadly intact.
The urban–rural split remains stark even as rural incomes grew faster. Urban residents recorded a per‑capita disposable income of 56,502 yuan, rising 4.3% nominally (4.2% real), while rural households averaged 24,456 yuan, up 5.8% nominally (6.0% real). Despite the stronger rural growth rate, the rural average is still less than half the urban figure, underscoring the scale of the development gap.
An examination of income sources reveals a labour‑centric recovery: wage income accounted for 56.6% of disposable income and grew 5.3%. Operating income and transfer receipts contributed materially, at 16.7% and 18.6% of the average respectively, while property income remained a small slice (8.0%) and barely expanded (1.6%). Median incomes ran below means—36,231 yuan nationally, 83.5% of the average—signalling a right‑skewed distribution driven by higher earners.
Household consumption continued to climb more slowly than incomes, with per‑capita expenditure at 29,476 yuan, up 4.4% nominally and in real terms. Urban spending (35,869 yuan) rose more modestly than rural (20,259 yuan), while spending patterns showed a shift toward services and discretionary categories: education, culture and recreation grew by 9.4%, transport and communications by 8.3%, and other goods and services by double digits. Food and housing still account for large shares of the budget, at 29.3% and 21.7% respectively, highlighting lingering necessities that constrain savings and discretionary outlays.
Taken together, the data paint a picture of modest but broad‑based income growth, a gradual reallocation of spending toward services, and continued structural imbalances. For policymakers, the figures affirm progress on raising rural incomes and sustaining consumption, but also reinforce challenges—income concentration, limited property‑income gains and persistent urban–rural inequalities—that will shape fiscal and social policy choices in the months ahead.