(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Shanghai and Beijing residents had the highest per capita consumption among China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and centrally run municipalities in the first half of the year, according to the latest official figures.

Average spending per person was CNY23,644 (USD3,650) in Shanghai and CNY21,564 in Beijing, the capital, in the six months ended June 30, China News reported today, citing data from the National bureau of Statistics.

Nationwide, more than half of consumer spending was on food, tobacco products and alcohol as well as on living expenses, the report said.

First-half per capita consumer expenditure rose 18 percent nominally from a year earlier to CNY11,471 (USD1,770). The actual increase was 17.4 percent after factoring out prices and an 11 percent gain on the first half of 2019.

The per-capita expenditure of five provinces -- Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang and Hubei -- as well as the four centrally-administered municipalities of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing was above the national average.

The main reason was that the per capita disposable income of Beijing and Shanghai residents was much higher than of those in other regions, according to Su Jian, director of Peking University’s Center for National Economic Research.

As the two most developed cities in China, Beijing and Shanghai have a wide variety of products available to meet the diverse needs of residents, with a relatively fully-developed service sector, Su said.

Spending on food, cigarettes and alcohol accounted for 30.8 percent of per capita spending in the period, reaching CNY3,536, the largest amount, the report noted after combing through data from NBS. Housing costs came second, taking up 23.1 percent with CNY2,649 in per capita spending.

Spending on education, culture and entertainment grew the fastest at 68.5 percent, far ahead of other categories.

With Covid-19 under control, China’s consumption can continue to grow, according to Pan Helin, executive dean at the Institute of Digital Economy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

High-end consumption will continue being upgraded and the consumption capacity of the vast number of China’s third- and fourth-tier cities will be further unleashed, he added.

Editor: Peter Thomas