NBS defends income data

The average annual disposable income of 56,839 yuan ($9,397) per capita categorized as high income represents the average income level of a relatively high-income group which includes 150 million urban residents, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said over the weekend on its official WeChat account in response to incredulity and criticism by Web users over the figure released last week.

The figure also represents the part which can be directly used for final consumption and savings and means the average disposable income of both employed and unemployed members in a family rather than the average income of employed residents, NBS said Saturday.

On January 20, the NBS said that urban residents earned an average annual disposable income of 26,955 yuan in 2013 and the average annual disposable income of 56,839 yuan per capita is considered high income. Some Web users thought the 56,839 yuan level was too low to be considered high income.