Society

Report: Life in Beijing worse than Guangzhou, Shanghai

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-12 18:57

BEIJING - Life quality in China's national capital of Beijing is worse than that in the metropolises of Guangzhou and Shanghai, according to a report on urban life in China.

The cities of Nanjing, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Hefei and Shijiazhuang also outpace Beijing in terms of life quality, according to the China City Life Quality Index Report, jointly released on Sunday by the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB).

The "Life Quality Index" for Chinese cities was calculated using objective indicators such as per capita income and inflation rates, as well as subjective indicators provided by urban residents, such as their opinions on their incomes, living costs, medical care and living environment.

Subjective indicators were weighted at 40 percent in compiling the index, organizers said.

According to the report, Guangzhou tops Chinese cities with a Life Quality Index of 64.07, followed by Shanghai's index of 60.5 and Nanjing's index of 59.49.

Beijing end up with a Life Quality Index of 56.23, ranking eighth out of 30 provincial or regional capital cities.

Professor Zhang Liancheng, dean of the School of Economics at CUEB, said the satisfaction of urban residents does not seem to match up with the rate at which the country's economy has grown over the past 30 years.

Factors such as soaring inflation, high property prices and the quickening pace of urban life have had a negative effect on satisfaction levels, Zhang said.