11 provinces spend over 5,000 yuan per year on social obligations in China

People in 11 provinces and cities spend over 5,000 yuan ($795.8) on maintaining their social obligations each year in China, according to a report released by the Center for Chinese Rural Studies of Central China Normal University.

The 11 provinces and cities are Chongqing, Anhui, Tianjin, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Shanghai, Jilin, Liaoning, Sichuan and Jiangsu. People in Chongqing spent most, 10,612 yuan on average, among the 11 areas, making up almost 20 percent of their average household total income, 54,564 yuan.

During the Spring Festival, the average cost for social obligations in China is up to 1,308 yuan, including showing respect to elders, gift money, treating guests, buying groceries and donations. Fifty-nine percent of people said that this expenditure was the largest during that period in 2016, on the basis of an investigation launched by Ant Financial.

According to the China Household Finance Survey and Research Center, the average expenditure for social obligations for each family occupies 7.9 percent of the family's total income, among which 45.1% of those families are at the bottom 25 percent income level.

The report also indicates that the average spending on social obligations in China's rural families is 5,297.47 yuan each year, which is only 1,000 yuan less than that spent on food and drink, accounting for 16.16 percent of total household expenditures.

The percentage of rural families that have social obligation expenditures was 87.71 percent, or 2,670.53 yuan, in 2008 and 95.24 percent, or 3,850.87 yuan, in 2011, respectively.