Rural household is the basic organizational unit of rural society that combines production and social lives. Rural households are the basic units of rural consumption and demands as well as the supply side (including labor, capitals, etc.) of production factors. To obtain the maximum satisfaction, rural households not only need to purchase various types of consumptive goods and the needed householdâs productive materials from the market but also need to obtain income by utilizing the labor, material and time resources of the whole household. As resources are always scarce and limited, the goal of the decisions made by the entire rural household is to maximize the efficiency of these resources. Therefore, like other rational economic entities, rural households make decisions frequently in terms of production and consumption to maximize profits or efficiency.
The China Rural Household Panel Survey (CRHPS) launched by Zhejiang University (hereafter referred to as ZJU) in 2015 aimed at setting a baseline for investigating rural issues in China. This comprehensive survey involved complete information on Chinaâs rural households, including their basic household structure, employment, income and expenditure, household wealth, agricultural production and management, land utility and circulation, migration of population and urbanization, financial behavior, health and social security, and education and training. Moreover, the survey covered the basic conditions of Chinaâs rural grass-roots units (village committees), which included information on local public services, social economy, social governance and environmental characteristics, as well as other areas.
This report of China Rural Household Panel Survey comprises five parts, including the background, agricultural production and management, land utilization and circulation, migration and citizenization and financial activities, and the conclusion.
It should be noted that the data involved in this report cover not only rural households living in rural areas but also rural families living in urban areas. Taking into account the situation of migrant workers working in urban areas, this report focused on both rural issues concerning agriculture and farmers, and issues concerning life in modern cities. The contents of each of the following chapter are as follows.
Chapter 2 is âAgricultural Production and Management of Rural Householdsâ. Agriculture is the foundation of life for human society, and more importantly, it is the fundamental guarantee of continuous development and progress of the overall national economy. Agricultural production and management is the fundamental economic activity of rural households in China, and this chapter analyzes the development and trend of agricultural production and management in China based on the data of the China Rural Panel Household Survey (CRHPS) of Zhejiang University. This chapter consists of eight sections: Basic Situation, Scope of Production and Management, Agricultural Labor Force, Instruments of Agricultural Production, Agricultural Land, Procurement of Agricultural Materials, Total Output Value of Family Farming and Sales Revenue, as well as Production Subsidy. Besides the vast majority of rural households, some urban families are also engaged in agricultural production and management activities (collectively referred to as âagricultural familiesâ), so the sample agricultural families involved in this chapter include rural household samples and urban households engaged in agricultural production and management, totaling 12,035. In addition, in order to get a better understanding of the variation of agricultural families, we divided rural households into three categories, including full-time agricultural family, part-time agricultural family and non-agricultural family in our analysis. The corresponding samples are 11,654 rural household samples. Moreover, survey data prior to 2015, is used in parts of the content to analyze the trends, which comes from the database of China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. The results of this chapter indicate that the average age (44.0 years) of full-time agricultural families in China was higher, with females taking a larger share (48.1%) and shorter years of schooling (6.3 years) than other types of agricultural families in 2015. The scope of agricultural production and management indicates that most agricultural households grow food crops. In total, 88.1% of Chinese agricultural families are engaged in food crop production, and 34.8% of agricultural households are engaged in cash crop production. As for the agricultural labor force, it is found that the average number of self-employed persons in agriculture families is 1.9, which accounts for 76.0% of the total working population. In terms of the proportion of agricultural families with an employed labor force, 9.8% of agricultural families nationwide have labor force employment. An average of 46.1% of the agricultural families employed or leased machinery during the production process, but only 30.2% of agricultural households in the western region employed or leased machinery. The ownership of machinery for agricultural production (36.1%) and livestock for agricultural production (21.8%) of agricultural families in the western region are relatively high. Some facts about agricultural land can be seen in the survey data. In 2015, the average cultivated land that Chinese agricultural families produced and managed amounted to 11.3 mu, which was 1.5 mu more than that in 2013. The renting ratio of agricultural households in China is 18.0%. This figure of agricultural households in rural areas is 18.8% and that of urban families is 14.1%. As for the sales channels of agricultural products, 69.6% of the agricultural households in China sell their own agricultural products, of which 64.3% of the urban agricultural families sell their own agricultural products, which is less than the 70.7% of the rural areas. However, only 0.3% of agricultural families sold agricultural products through the Internet in 2015; thus, online sales still have much potential in China.
Chapter 3 is âLand Utilization and Circulation of Rural Householdsâ. The household contract responsibility system is a basic rural land system in China, which distributes the agricultural land relatively evenly to rural families. Although the household contract responsibility system ensures the fairness of the agricultural land system to a great extent, with the development of social economy, the average distribution of agricultural land has begun to go against the efficiency of agricultural land utilization. An important factor is the differentiation of rural families in employment. Some rural families prefer non-agricultural employment, which creates idle land; however, agricultural households that are committed to agricultural production and management are facing a shortage of cultivated land. Therefore, the land of rural families should be readjusted to meet the needs of economic development. Under the premise of ensuring that the rural land ownership and the contract system remain unchanged, agricultural land circulation becomes an important readjustment method. This chapter, by using data from the China Rural Household Panel Survey of Zhejiang University (CRHPS) to analyze the land utilization and circulation of Chinaâs rural households, is mainly composed of four sections: Basic Situation of Chinaâs Agricultural Land, Circulation of Cultivated Land (general situation, effects and influencing factors), Confirmation of Rural Land Right and Circulation of Agricultural Land and Land Expropriation. The sample families involved in this chapter include both rural household samples and urban family samples with a total of 16,373 cases, which are slightly different from the previous chapters. A total of 11,654 rural household samples were used to analyze land expropriation, confirmation and circulation, as well as circulation disputes and circulation services. In addition, data from surveys before 2015 were used in some parts of the content to analyze the trends, and these relevant data were all collected from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) database of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. The results of this chapter show that 35.9% of Chinese agricultural households were involved in agricultural land circulation in 2015, which is 11.8% higher than that in 2013. In 2013, the rent for transfer-out cultivated land was 383 yuan per mu, and the rent for transfer-in cultivated land was 298 yuan per mu. In 2015, the rent for transfer-out cultivated land had increased to 425 yuan per mu and the rent for transfer-in cultivated land had increased to 443 yuan per mu. For transfer-out cultivated land, the average rent with the involvement of the village committee was 590 yuan per mu, while the average rent without the involvement of the village committee was 388 yuan per mu. For the transfer-in cultivated land, the average rent with the involvement of the village committee was 629 yuan per mu, while the average rent without the involvement of the village committee was 434 yuan per mu. An average of 35.7% of rural households that had purchased houses in urban areas transferred out the cultivated land, which is 21% higher than those that had not purchased houses in urban areas.
Chapter 4 is âMigration of Rural Households and Citizenization of Migrant Workersâ. This chapter uses the samples of ârural families living in rural areasâ and ârural families living in urban areas (migrant workersâ families)â from the China Rural Household Panel Survey (CRHPS) by Zhejiang University to analyze the migration of rural families and citizenization of migrant workers. The study found that the average age of migrant workers is 37.7 years old, and the average schooling year is 9.4 years. On average, the working time of migrant workers is 9.1 hours per day and 25 days per month, which is generally higher than the regulations set by the labor law. The overall education level of migrant workers is not high, but we can see an obvious improvement in the level among the new generation of migrant workers: previously, the illiterate migrant workers accounted for 11.0% of the population, workers with primary school education accounted for 22.4% and workers with junior secondary education accounted for 35.8%. From the old generation to the post-1980s and then to the post-1990s, there is a very clear improvement in the level of education. The proportion of migrant workers with a primary or lower education has dropped, from 47.8% of the older generation to 8.3% of the post-1980s and then to 3.9% of the post-1990s; meanwhile, people with a high school degree or above among migrant workers have markedly increased, from 15.6% of the old generation to 51.4% of the post-1980s and then to 69.8% of the post-1990s. The urban hukou, or household registration, became less appealing to migrant workers that only 17.0% of migrant workers were willing to obtain a non-agricultural hukou. The citizenization of migrant workers has not been marked chiefly by whether they have obtained or been willing to obtain urban hukou. Migrant workers are more or less related to agriculture, but there is a clear trend: in 2015, 27.8% of migrant workers in China engaged in agricultural production and management; however, compared with that in 2013 and 2011, the relationship between migrant workers and agriculture has obviously weakened. The proportion of migrant workers participating in agricultural production and management has dropped from 31.7% in 2010 to 30.4% in 2012 and then to 27.8% in 2014. The number of months which migrant workers are involved in agricultural production has fallen from 6.76 to 6.26 months, and then to 6.15 months. Migrant workersâ families have a tendency to rapidly rent out agricultural land: since 2011, migrant workersâ families have rented out agricultural land faster and show a trend of continuously renting out land. According to a survey conducted in 2011, the proportion of migrant workersâ families having rented out agricultural land was 12.9%, which was higher than that of rural families (6.0%) by 6.9% points. In 2013, that of migrant workersâ families became 16.4%, which was higher than that of rural families (10%) by 6.4% points. By 2015, 30.9% of migrant workersâ families had rent out agricultural land, which was higher than the 11.3% of rural families by 19.6% points. By 2015, migrant worker families who had rent out agricultural land had, on average, rent out 5.1 mu per household, which is 15.9% higher than the 4.4 mu of rural households. Migrant workersâ families generally have higher expectations of their childrenâs education than rural families. The more highly educated migrant workers are, the higher annual income they could get. But no matter what academic background female migrant workers have, their income was significantly lower than that of men. The overall social security level of migrant workers is low: 39.8% of migrant workers do not have any pension insurance and 57.1% of migrant workers are supported by social endowment insurance. Among various social endowment insurances, the new rural social old-age insurance plays a major role, accounting for 66.9%. The coverage rate of medical insurance for migrant workers is 85.2%, but it is still mainly based on the New Rural Cooperative Medical System (NRCMS), accounting for 76.5%. Only 10.7% of migrant workers have registered for the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI).
Chapter 5 is âFinancial Behavior of Rural Householdsâ. It exhibits the characteristics of rural householdsâ financial activities and illustrates the financial participation of rural households by exploring four aspects, namely, the participation in the financial market, agricultural loans, private lending and the financial knowledge and behaviors of rural households. This chapter analyzes the financial behavior of rural households including the participation behavior of rural households in the financial market, agricultural production and management loans of rural households, private lending of rural households, and financial knowledge and behavior of rural households according to the databases of China Rural Household Panel Survey (CRHPS) by Zhejiang University and China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). First, the study found that the development of the current rural financial market was very backward, and the participation rate of rural households in risk markets such as stocks and funds was very low, accounting for only 2.4%, far behind the national overall level of 17.1%. In terms of urban and rural areas, the proportion of rural households participating in various risk markets was much lower than that of urban households. As for the loan market, compared with 2013, in 2015 the ratio of rural households with loans declined from 14.1% to 12%, while that of urban households increased by 18.4% points. Meanwhile, the situation of inclusive finance is also analyzed. The average number of banking outlets of each village revealed the obvious gap in financial service facilities between rural and urban areas. Households with bank cards in rural areas accounted for 55.9% of the total rural households, 23.3% points lower than the national urban households. As for the mobile internet finance, it is found that the proportions of national households owning mobile and online bank accounts in rural areas were only 4.3% and 7.1%, respectively. When it comes to financial planning products, Chinaâs households with financial planning products accounted for 9.6% of the total households in the country. Second, some facts about the agricultural production and management loans for farmers are showed from the results. The participation level of rural households in the formal credit market was also low, and the demand proportion of agricultural production and management loans in 2015 was only 12.7%, down by more than 50% compared with 2013. However, rural households actively participated in the private lending market, as there were over 28% of rural households with private loans, far higher than the national level. Private borrowing was mainly used for housing as well as production and management projects, which served as a good supplement to the insufficient formal borrowing. As for inclusive finance, the financial service infrastructure coverage of rural areas, bank account ownership and convenience of banking services still had a great room for improvement. Most agricultural households preferred informal financing channels, while only 22.4% of rural households preferred formal bank loans. Third, survey data also shows households in our country have a higher private lending participation rate in housing and agricultural/industrial and commercial projects, especially in rural areas. In 2015, in rural areas the scale of private lending per household among households in debt was 45,000 yuan, and the proportion of private lending to total liabilities was 77.8%. Fourth, the financial knowledge level of Chinaâs rural households was generally low, while financial knowledge has a significant impact on financial behavior. The higher the level of financial knowledge, the higher the proportion of households participating in financial markets, and these households also hold more risky assets. Among households with higher financial knowledge, the proportion of loans will be increased, while the proportion of participation in private finance will be reduced.
Chapter 6 is âResearch Conclusionsâ. Based on the statistics of the CRHPS, it summarizes the newly emerged characteristics of Chinaâs rural households from seven aspects, including conditions of land use and migration, and sums up the current overall situation of rural households from a micro level. The main results were as follows:
(1) The expansion of household cultivated land management is obvious, and the proportion of agricultural machinery social service is high. In the context of the government making great efforts to promote a modest scale of various forms of agriculture, the expansion of Chinaâs rural household agricultural production and management is obvious. With the expansion of agricultural householdsâ production and operation, a higher proportion of agricultural households have purchased agricultural machinery services.
(2) The percentage of long-term cultivated land circulation increased significantly, and the inter-period circulation increased. There has been an obvious increase in the proportion of Chinaâs agricultural families taking part in land circulation. It is worth mentioning that the progress of urbanization promoted the circulation of cultivated land. The statistics show that the average rent will increase significantly if the village committee is involved in the process of farmland transfer, whether the land is transferred in or out.
(3) The new generation migrant workersâ qualities obviously improved, and there is a considerable change in citizensâ manners. The improvement of the new generation migrant workersâ moral characters also has an impact on their citizenization. They began to âget out of agricultureâ and gradually âfit intoâ towns and cities. First of all, the proportion of the new generation of migrant workers participating in the New Rural Pension Scheme decreased, and the proportion of those participating in urban employeesâ pension scheme greatly improved. Second, the proportion of the new generation of migrant workers who participated in the new rural cooperative medical insurance decreased, while the proportion of those who joined the basic medical insurance for urban workers increased significantly. It can be considered that the new generation of migrant workers has begun to change the situation of the old generation that overly relies on the social security provided by their rural place of origin and is gradually integrating into the urban social security system, which will certainly promote the process of farmers transitioning into urban residents.
(4) The new generation of migrant workersâ labor supply time declined obviously, which accelerates the shrinkage of demographic dividends. Demographic dividend refers to the positive effect on a countryâs economic growth brought by the high proportion of working age population and high labor participation rate, which lead to the surplus of labor force, and then a lower labor cost and lower production cost, in the demographic transition process. The CRHPS data further show that the trend of declining demographic dividend is not only manifested in the decline in the working age population, but also in the decline in labor supply time of the new generation of workers.
(5) The trend of migrant workers âleaving agricultureâ is obvious, and the circulation of land and increase of the farmland scale are gaining speed. In recent years, the phenomenon of migrant worker households working in a...