Horizon Research's latest survey on 4,128 permanent residents 18 to 60 years old in most parts of China shows that the sense of security of Chinese city dwellers and rural residents has maintained a downtrend for three consecutive years since 2003, China Youth Daily reports today.

According to the survey, Chinese residents' sense of security index was 3.53 last year, lower than that of 2004 (3.62) and 2003 (3.66). Comparison of city dwellers and rural residents manifests slight rise of the sense of security among the former group and notable decrease among the latter. The gap between these two groups of people was the widest in the past four years.

Chinese residents' sense of security rebounded in 2003 but kept declining since then. Both the National Bureau of Statistics and Horizon Research concluded that Chinese people's sense of security kept going down from the latter half of the 1990s to 2003. After a marked rebound in 2003, it resumed the downtrend again.

Relevant experts deem that this survey objectively reflects the current social psychological status of the Chinese public. A higher degree of openness of social information and more negative reports have objectively affected Chinese people's psychological cognition. Last year, in particular, the central government lifted the "ban" on reports of major natural disasters and death tolls, allowing the public to learn more information about such incidents, which serves as a mirror of social progress.

Moreover, imbalanced social development, chiefly widening income gap between urban and rural residents, has triggered intensive outbreak of various social conflicts. Such imbalance has added to the public's psychological pressure and led to elevated sensitivity to public order. 

(Chinanews.cn February 20, 2006)