The Overall Status Evaluation of China’s Cultural Consumption Demand in Urban and Rural Areas: An Analysis for Period Beginning in 1991 and the 2012 Annual Assessment

Abstract

In 2012, the countrywide overall cultural consumption demand in urban and rural areas continued to maintain high growth: the total cultural consumption went up by 12.64 %, reaching 11,405.97 hundred million yuan; the per capita value went up by 12.09 %, reaching 844.45 yuan. As measured by per capita value, the annual growth of cultural consumption in urban and rural areas was significantly higher than GDP growth, significantly lower than residents’ income growth, slightly lower than total consumption growth, and significantly lower than savings growth. The disparity of cultural consumption between urban and rural areas shrank by 1.97 %; the regional gap of cultural consumption in urban and rural areas among various provinces shrank by 1.04 % from the previous year. The status evaluations of countrywide overall cultural consumption demand in urban and rural areas in 2012 are as follows: the value of the vertical assessment is remarkably higher than the base value since the “Ninth Five-Year Plan” period; it is slightly lower than the base value since the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” period; is significantly lower than the base value since the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period and is slightly higher than the base value of the previous year; the annual horizontal assessment without urban and rural and regional gaps is remarkably lower than the ideal value, because of the continuous presence of the urban and rural and the regional gaps.