Thaindian News

Beijing, June 19 (IANS) Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin cities of China have topped the list of the country’s well-being index prepared by scholars as part of an academic report.

The report, published Saturday by the Beijing Normal University, is a review of people’s livelihood development in China during the 11th five-year plan (2006-2010).

The survey included 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China, excluding the Tibet region. The data was collected from the public yearbooks released by various provincial authorities, China Daily reported Sunday.

The well-being index was calculated based on three main performances: Livelihood, public services and social administration that are further divided into 13 categories.

Beijing tops the table with a well-being index of 0.739, followed by Shanghai at 0.635 and Tianjin at 0.536. The southwestern Guizhou province was last with only 0.200.

Nine out of the top 10 provinces are from the eastern seaboard, while eight in the last 10 are from the west.

Beijing and Shanghai dominate the rankings in most of the sub-categories, including income, education and infrastructure.

But both cities failed to make the list in housing and transport mainly because of over-heated property prices and over-crowded and congested roads.

Guangdong province has the highest GDP (gross domestic product), as per 2010 statistics, but only came in 6th in the overall rankings, hindered mainly by its weak social security and housing support.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces ranked high because of their balanced development, while the northeastern provinces have the best social security systems, according to the report.

Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region ranks first in social security and Inner Mongolia in environment improvement list.

Wang Hongxin, deputy head of the Government Management School of the BNU, said: The report provides a reference to decision-makers evaluating the performance of local governments.