Chinese spending nearly as much of income as Americans on healthcare

BEIJING — High healthcare costs are a big factor driving people in China to save, rather than spend, their money, the International Monetary Fund pointed out in a new book titled "Toward a New Economic Growth Model for China."

In rural China, 8.7% of disposable income is spent on healthcare — just second to the U.S. among 20 major economies, the research found. The U.S. ranks the highest in the world with nearly 9.9% of disposable income spent on healthcare.

Urban China ranks third, at 5.4%, slightly more than Canada, the data showed.

The level of the healthcare burden in China grows starker when considering per capita disposable income in the U.S. was $68,289 as of the end of last year — more than 10 times more than China's 43,377 yuan in U.S. dollar terms (around $6,400).