When Barack Obama made his State of the Union speech in January this year, one phrase kept coming up again and again: middle class. The concept is a part of America\u2019s DNA, with many in the country arguing that a strong middle class boosts economic growth and investment.<\/p>\n
But fewer Americans than before are identifying as middle class. In 2008, according toresearch from Pew, 58% of people in the US did. Five years later, that had dropped to 49%.<\/p>\n
They might be on to something. This year, according to a new report from Credit Suisse, China\u2019s middle class overtook America\u2019s for the first time, becoming the largest in the world. \u201cThe middle class is so closely associated with North America \u2013 and the United States in particular \u2013 that some of our results for individual countries may come as a surprise,\u201d the report\u2019s authors note.<\/p>\n
Here are the numbers of middle-class adults (in millions), by region and country (2015):<\/p>\n
Although China has the world\u2019s largest middle class, this social segment still makes up a rather small part of its population: just 10.7%, compared with 37.7% for the US. But while America\u2019s percentage might look good compared with its Asian rival, it is in fact low for a developed country. In Australia, for example, 66.1% of the population are middle class. In the UK that figure stands at 57.4% and in Canada 47.8%.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, the middle class in China (and Asia more widely) will continue to grow: \u201cThe middle class will continue to expand in emerging economies overall, with a lion\u2019s share of that growth to occur in Asia,\u201d the report concluded.<\/p>\n
Copyright: World Economic Forum<\/a><\/p>\n
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