In terms of regional differences in economic structures, agriculture took up a smaller share in the economy in the eastern region while it took bigger shares in the central and western regions and in the Northeast. Added value of agriculture in proportion to GDP continued to fall.
1. Differences in the economic structures and in rural economic development between the eastern, central, western regions and the Northeast In 2011's gross domestic product, the eastern, central and western regions and the Northeast took up 52%, 20.1%, 19.2% and 8.7% respectively. Compared to the previous year, the share of the eastern region dropped by 1 percentage point, while the shares of the central and western regions and the Northeast went up by 0.4 percentage points, 0.5 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points respectively. The ratio between the eastern, central and western regions and the Northeast in GDP was 5.98:2.31:2.21:1 in 2011. Compared with the previous year when the ratio was 6.18:2.30:2.18:1, the gap between the regions narrowed.
Added value of agriculture gained by the eastern, central and western regions and the Northeast accounted for 35.6%, 27.1%, 26.9% and 10.3% of the national total respectively. The share of the eastern region dropped by half a percentage point than the previous year, while the share of the central region fell by 0.6 percentage points; the shares of the western region and the Northeast both increased by half a percentage point.
Added value of agriculture achieved in the eastern region took up 6.3% of regional GDP, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year; the central region 12.3%, down 0.9 percentage points; western region 12.8%, down 0.4 percentage points, the Northeast, 10.9%, up 0.2 percentage points.
In terms of added value of agriculture, the ratio between the eastern, central and western regions and the Northeast was 3.17:2.40:2.29:1 in 2011. Compared with the previous year when the ratio was 3.76:2.82:2.69:1, the regional gap narrowed.
Added value of township enterprises in the four regions respectively accounted for 57.5%, 20.2%, 12.7% and 9.5% of the total obtained by the country's township enterprises in 2011. The ratio between added value of township enterprises of the four regions was 6.03:2.12:1.33:1 in 2011.
2. Regional differences in rural residents， income and consumption level Farmers' per capita net income in the eastern, central, western regions and the Northeast averaged 9,585 yuan, 6,530 yuan, 5,247 yuan and 7,791 yuan respectively in 2011. The ratio between the four regions in fanners' average per capita net income was 1.23:0.84 : 0.67:1. Compared with 1.27:0.86:0.69:1 in the previous year, the regional gap in farmers' average per capita net income narrowed (Figure 30).
In terms of regional differences in consumption by rural residents, per capita living expenses averaged 6,856 yuan, 4,786 yuan, 4,188 yuan and 5,349 yuan respectively in the eastern, central, western regions and the Northeast, up 19.5%, 20.1%, 18.4% and 22.9% respectively from the previous year. The ratio of rural residents，living expenses between the four regions was 1.28:0.89:0.78:1 in 2011 with that of the Northeast as reference. Compared with the previous year, when the ratio was 1.32:0.91:0.81:1, the regional gap in living expenses of farmers expanded.
