600 million middle-class Chinese by 2020: think tank

 600 million middle-class Chinese by 2020: think tank

HAIKOU, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's rapid urbanization will greatly increase its number of middle-class people to 600 million and support an economic growth between 7 percent and 8 percent annually¹ by 2020, a government think tank chief predicted here on Saturday.

Speaking at a reform forum² in Haikou, capital of China's southern-most province of Hainan, Chi Fulin, executive president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, said, "As urbanization will create huge domestic demand potential, China still has ample room for transition and reform for the coming decade."

According to the think tank, China's urbanization rate reached 51.3 percent in 2011, meaning over half of Chinese were living in cities and towns last year.

As more farmers are leaving their farmland and becoming migrant workers in cities and towns, China is expected to have another 200 million migrant workers living in urban areas, according to a study by the the China Institute for Reform and Development.

The continued urbanization and the increase in middle-class consumers will spur investment demand by at least 40 trillion yuan (6.3 trillion U.S. dollars) over the next 10 years, Chi said.

He predicted domestic consumption will replace investment to become China's major engine driving the economy, with residential³ consumption in rural and urban areas expected to jump to 30 trillion yuan in 2016 from 16 trillion yuan last year.

1 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。