The Chongqing Municipal government plans to restructure its income distribution system and set the goal of bringing down the Gini Coefficient from the current 0.42 to 0.35 in its own 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the Beijing News reported Monday. This marks the first time that a local government has included improving the Gini Coefficient as a goal in its development plan.

The Gini Coefficient is an index between zero and one, which is used to measure the gap between the rich and the poor. The warning level of Gini Coefficient is 0.4. Chongqing's 0.42 Gini Coefficient means 42 percent of the income in the region is unequally distributed. The average Gini Coefficient in China had been over 0.4 since 2000, and is close to 0.5 now, according to a report of in the People's Daily on January 6.

Huang Qifan, Mayor of Chongqing, said that the reason for the unequal distribution is related to the municipality's distribution system.

Chongqing's 12th Five-Year Plan aims to help residents gradually increase their income, and to reduce tax burdens for the low-income people. It also calls for subsidies and support in housing, education, medical care and other areas. In addition, the government aims to help people in rural areas to achieve a higher income level, in order to narrow the gap between rural and urban areas. The authorities are aiming for a 100 percent rural area family income growth rate and a 75 percent urban family growth rate. Less wealth will be distributed to the government monopoly sectors.

Chongqing is the first of the country's local governments to tackle unequal distribution.