People in China are spending nearly as much of their income as Americans on healthcare

Children and adults receive vaccinations at the Jiangbei Community Health Service Center on September 15, 2026 in Huizhou, Guangdong province of China.Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesBEIJING — 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).The gap widens further when looking at China's countryside, which only officially emerged from extreme poverty in 2020.Urban China recorded more than twice the disposable income as rural areas, at 56,502 yuan versus 24,456 yuan, ...