Income and Expenditure of Rural Households

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the income and expenditure of rural households using the same sample of Chap. 4. In parts of the comparative study, we used the “families living in towns with rural hukou (migrant worker families)” sample. Through the study, we found that wage income and agricultural income are the main sources of total income of rural households, and the average income in the eastern and central regions of China is significantly higher than that in the western region of China. With the increase of household head’s education level, the total income and other nonagricultural incomes went up, while agricultural net income and industrial and commercial income began to decrease after an increase. Migrant workers’ families hold the highest total income and the lowest agricultural net income.