Rural residents are facing a huge financial burden as they spend large proportions of their income on their kids' education and family medical treatment, China Youth Daily reported.

The information comes from a survey done by Horizon Research and Horizonkey, and was release in a joint research report on the Chinese Standard of Living Index in 2005.

The survey said that anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of the respondents held that they lived in relative poverty as they had to pay high education expenses for their children. The problem was more obvious among parents in countryside since they spent the largest share of their family income on their kids' education.

In countryside, parents spent nearly one third of their family income on their kids' education. Education costs for urbanites is around 25 percent of their family income.

Most people in need ascribed their predicament to a lack of skills, which often resulted from their droping out of school because they couldn't afford to continue their education, Horizon acknowledged.

The research also showed high medical expenses were the no. 2 financial burden for residents, especially those in the countryside.

On average, rural families spent 21 percent of their income on medical treatment, much is higher than the 7.9 percent and 9 percent in cities and towns respectively.

The survey sampled a total of 4,128 people from eight large and medium-sized cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Nantong, seven towns and their surrounding villages in provinces like Sichuan, Hebei and Shaanxi.

Source: Xinhua