China's middle class will likely number 700 million in 2020, spurred by strong economic growth in the world's most populous country, a report said Wednesday.
The London-based Euromonitor International Ltd. said in the report that the population of China's middle class will jump nearly nine-fold from 80 million in 2007 thanks to rising income and economic expansion.
The middle class in China is defined as households with an annual income between 60,000 yuan (US$8,900) and 500,000 yuan.
"The Chinese middle class is concentrated mainly in urban areas where greater jobs and business opportunities exist. It comprises of entrepreneurs and managers in high-tech companies, foreign firms and financial
institutions as well as some self-employed private entrepreneurs," Euromonitor said.
"The expanding middle class in China is indicative of the country's economic success and is extremely important to both local and international companies due to their significant purchasing power."
China has shown rapid economic growth since the beginning of economic reforms in 1978, with its gross domestic product (GDP) rising on average of more than 9 percent a year.
In 2009, the Chinese economy expanded 8.7 percent from a year earlier.
Carsten Holz, professor at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, expected that China's economy will continue to grow until 2015 in the 7-9 percent range, high enough for China to catch up with the U.S. in terms of purchasing power.
Meanwhile, POSRI, a research institute of steel giant POSCO, estimated the average wage level of Chinese workers will more than double in five years
due to a labor shortage in the country.