Compared with 10 years ago 85.3 percent of people feel the burdens of life are now heavier, according to China Youth Daily on March 20.

The newspaper released the findings of a survey which was conducted recently by the Investigation Center of China News Daily and the News Center of sina.com. The survey involved 7,625 people.

Figures from the research show that 78.8 percent of people think their incomes have increased but at the same time 85.3 percent contend that they have born heavier stresses and strains of modern life. 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures, between 1996 and 2005 the growth of the national consumer price index (CPI) was much lower than that of the per capita net income. In 1998, 1999 and 2002 the figures for CPI growth were negative.

What's the reason behind this phenomenon? Sun Liping, professor in sociology at Tsinghua University, pinpointed the method of calculating CPI growth.

The CPI standard was set more than 20 years ago when the "food column" occupied almost one third of CPI. However, the current situation is that the ratio of this column is very small, while the actual consumption related to health, education and telecommunications has not been fully reflected in CPI statistics.

This is especially the case in relation to skyrocketing housing costs which are not covered by current CPI calculation.

Over the past decade, the expenses on education, medicine and housing have risen steeply. According to the survey the top three expenses for people were housing, education and health.

Generally the normal ratio between the housing price and income would be from 3 : 1 to 6 : 1. But in China the ratio is from 10 : 1 to 20 : 1. A sample survey involving 37 cities around China showed that the average housing expense is normally equal to the family income of 13.4 years. In Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, a family has to commit their incomes generated over a 20-year period towards housing.

During the Fourth Session of the 10th Natonal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) which was held on March 3-13, Sun Jiye, vice director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Supervision, pointed out that 20 year ago the tuition costs of a college academic year were 200 yuan (US$25) and now the price was over 5,000 yuan (US$625) -- 25 times higher.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that in the 1980s the average annual expense on health was 14.32 billion yuan (US$1,790 million). However, in 2003 the figure had increased by 40 times to 662.33 billion yuan (US$82.79 billion). Meanwhile, the cost of personal health payments has risen to 55.5 percent compared with 21.2 percent in the 1980s.

The survey also pointed out that the top five reasons for saving money were:  emergencies, education, housing, retirement and health.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke March 21, 2006)