Middle class to dominate cities by 2023

BEIJING - Half of city dwellers in China will be part of the middle class by 2023, according to estimates from the country's think tanks.

Based on data from 2000 to 2009, researchers calculated that 37 percent of city dwellers were part of the middle class in 2010.

That percentage is expected to surpass 45 percent in 2019 and exceed 52 percent in 2025, said Zhang Lifeng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.