The ratio of income earned by urbanites to that of rural residents is about 5.2, according to The Urban Blue Book: China City Development Report No. 5 released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

The ratio of urbanites' disposable income to rural residents' net income reached 3.13 last year. The figure for income gap is about 26 percent higher than that of 1997 and 68 percent higher than that of 1985, it said, adding it far exceeded figures of the same kind in many foreign countries. As about 40 percent of farmers' net income was used to purchase chemical fertilizer, pesticide, seeds and other means of production, deducting these expenses, China's urban income was about 5.2 times that of the countryside, said the report.

The Urban Blue Book also noted that the number of urbanites has surpassed the number of rural residents in China, with the urbanization rate reaching 51.27 percent, a significant change in the country's social structure which ushers in an era of "city-based society."

据新华社报道，中国社会科学院周二发布的《中国城市发展报告（2012）》中指出，目前城乡居民收入实际差距将高达5.2倍左右。

报告称，去年，全国城镇居民人均可支配收入与农村居民人均纯收入之比高达3.13，比1997年高26.2%，比1985年高68.3%，更远高于绝大部分国家的水平。考虑到农村居民纯收入中约有40%用于购买化肥、农药、种子等生产资料，如果扣除这部分支出，目前城乡居民收入实际差距将高达5.2倍左右。

蓝皮书还指出，2011年，中国城镇常住人口超过了农村常住人口，城镇化率达到了51.27%。这表明中国已经结束了以乡村型社会为主体的时代，开始进入到“以城市型社会为主体的”新的城市时代。