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Quality of Life

Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which China has signed, all countries agree to devote their maximum available resources to making things progressively better for their people in these areas.

HRMI has calculated what China could be achieving at its current level of income. The scores are given as a percentage of that realistic potential achievement. China’s best scores are for the right to health, where it is achieving 98.1% of what we calculate should be possible, and for the right to work (97.2%). For these rights, China is doing nearly as well as it possibly can, given its level of income. China could still afford to make some gains now, but then would need to increase its income to make further improvements.

Of the five quality of life rights we measure, China needs to improve the most in the right to quality education, where it scores 61.4%, which falls in the ‘very bad’ range. Among 17 East Asian countries, this score puts China in the bottom half for quality education, just below Mongolia and Myanmar, and just above Malaysia and Thailand.

China’s other lower score is for the right to housing, where it is currently achieving only 92.3% of what we calculate should be possible at its level of income.

We further break the right to housing down into scores for the right to sanitation and the right to water.

With a GDP per capita of US$12,720 we calculate that China has the resources to ensure all of its people have running water and toilets in their homes.

However, China’s right to sanitation score of 89.5% shows that many people are missing out, even though China could afford to do better. If China efficiently used its available resources, it could achieve a score of 100%, which would mean that 79 million additional people living in China would gain access to basic sanitation in their homes.

If China improved its performance for the right to water from 95.2% to 100%, 51 million more people would have water on their premises.

The good news is that China’s scores for the right to housing have been steadily improving since 2001, when the nation scored 70.0%. The progress from 2020 to 2021 suggests around 23 million people gained access to basic sanitation over that period, and around 15 million people gained access to water in their homes. China’s scores for the right to water are rising more quickly than those for the right to sanitation.

When it comes to the right to food, if China lifted its score to 100%, around 1.9 million more children under five years old would have enough nutritious food to grow well – that would mean all children in China under five would have enough nutritious food to grow well. This is an achievable goal.

With a current score of 96.4%, China has improved a little in respecting people’s right to food over the last 20 years, with its score increasing from 86% in 2000.

On the right to work, China has made dramatic progress in eliminating absolute poverty. It’s score on ensuring people enjoy at least a subsistence income (that is, income above the absolute poverty line of $3.65 per day, measured in 2017 PPP$), has risen from 34.6% in 2000 to 97.2% in 2020, bringing it from the ‘very bad’ band to the ‘good’ band. Still, the latest score means 28 million Chinese are unnecessarily living in absolute poverty.

The bigger challenge China currently faces, however, is eliminating relative poverty. That is, ensuring people enjoy at least half the median income and so can enjoy a decent life. China’s score on a fair (relative) income stood at only 36.3% in 2018 (the most year with data). While 1,115 million people had enough money to enjoy decent lives, 199 million were unnecessarily denied this right.

China comes in second in the world in ensuring people’s right to health is fulfilled, with a score of 98.1%, when using the low and middle income assessment standard (when using the high income standard, China still comes in fifth in the world, when taking countries' income into account). For countries doing this well with their current level of income, an increase of income will be necessary to make significant further improvements. This is the right where China is most constrained by resources – for all of the other rights we measure, China should already be able to do nearly as well as any country in the world, at its current level of income.

However, for the right to health, expert respondents noted inequities in access to healthcare, including regional differences, and differences in access according to wealth and political influence.

People at risk

While China has room for improvement in all the rights we measure, a further consideration is inequity. There are several groups of people who experts identified as being at higher risk of missing out. These include:

See the people at risk tab on the Rights Tracker for the full lists. The data also show a strong connection between political activity, especially criticism of the government, and lack of enjoyment of economic and social rights.

Room for improvement

All our Quality of Life scores show that China could make significant improvements to its people’s lives, even without more resources.

If China were using its resources more efficiently to ensure its people’s wellbeing, it could achieve 100% for all the rights we measure. Yet, while its best score is close to that mark — 98.1% on the right to health — its worst score — 61.4% on the right to quality education — is far from that level.

If China better upheld its rights obligations, and achieved a full 100% score on all the rights we measure, we would see millions more Chinese people living lives of dignity, even without income growth. For example, if China reached 100% we would see the following number of extra people benefitting:

Safety from the State

China scores 2.6 out of 10 for our overall Safety from the State category, telling us that many people are at risk of arbitrary or political arrest or detention, torture and ill-treatment, forced disappearance, execution, or extrajudicial killing. This is the lowest score in our sample of 30 countries.

China’s worst score in this category is 1.0 out of 10 for freedom from the death penalty, the lowest score among all the countries we measure.

The human rights experts we surveyed said that people protesting against or criticising the government, and people from ethnic and religious minorities, were at extra risk of being executed. They also noted that women who kill their abusive husbands in self-defense may face the death penalty.

Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that human rights advocates, protesters, and people who criticised the government were at particular risk of a wide range of rights violations, especially arbitrary arrest and detention, forced disappearance, and torture and ill-treatment. Respondents particularly noted risks to political dissidents, detainees, and participants of the New Citizens Movement. Respondents also noted that family members of Chinese citizens who have migrated to other coutries are also at heightened risk of harassment and rights abuses.

People who protest or engage in non-violent political activity were at extra risk for all five Safety from the State rights.

Other vulnerable groups include:

Among other East and Southeast Asian countries and territories where we measure these rights, China has the lowest scores for all five Safety from the State rights.

Empowerment

The Chinese government limits civil liberties and political freedom, with China scoring a very low 1.9 out of 10 in empowerment rights. This is the second lowest score in our sample of 30 countries.  

For the rights to assembly and association, opinion and expression, participation in government, and freedom of religion and belief all of China’s scores fall into the ‘very bad’ range. For all four rights, the human rights experts we surveyed agreed overwhelmingly that ‘all people’ were at risk of violations of these rights.

When it comes to the right to assembly and association, China scores 2.3 out of 10, and human rights experts identified a wide range of people not enjoying their rights, including human rights advocates, protesters, and people criticising or opposing the government, as well as those from ethnic and religious minorities.

China’s score for the right to opinion and expression is a very low 2.4 out of 10, with no improvement over the four years we have measured this right. Respondents noted that press freedom does not exist, and expressing a different opinion from the majority can lead to a range of punishments and reprisals.

China also scores in the ‘very bad’ range for the right to participate in government, with a score of 2.8 out of 10. Respondents noted that political organisations are monitored and under government control, and people who participated in the White Paper Protests are restricted from political participation.

For the right to freedom of religion and belief, China scored 2.5. Respondents noted that the government restricts all religious practices, and is particularly repressive towards people following unregistered minority religions such as Christians, Uyghur Muslims, and people who attend house churches.

Groups that are particularly vulnerable to empowerment rights violations include: