E-commerce raises rural income: report

Internet and e-commerce have raised household income in rural areas and enabled more rural people to start their private businesses, according to a report by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

The report was made based on a survey conducted in the summer vacation in 2017 by students and teachers at the university with more than 10,000 families in villages across China.

The survey found nearly 93 percent of the families had cellphones and 44 percent had computers. About 62 percent of the families had Internet access at home.

Researchers found out the rural areas in the 30 counties they surveyed reported about 52 billion yuan (US$7.85 billion) of online sales in 2016.

More than 11 percent of the surveyed families were doing online businesses, with 47 percent of them selling agricultural products.

About 80 percent of the surveyed areas saw increasing startups involving e-commerce and many saw more and more people return from urban areas, where they had worked or studied, according to the report.

More than 50 percent of the families said their household income increased after they started online business.