Asia's rich-poor gap growing: ADB

The gap between rich and poor in China and other Asian countries is growing, hurting anti-poverty efforts and possibly fueling unrest, the Asian Development Bank said in a report on Wednesday.

The growing wealth gap is a byproduct of globalisation, which has brought higher incomes to urban, skilled, English-speaking workers in China, India and other countries, the bank's report said.

China has had Asia's second-biggest and second-fastest-growing wealth gap since the 1990s, exceeded only by war-wracked Nepal on both counts, the bank said in an annual survey.

China has seen thousands of protests in recent years, some of them violent, over land seizures and other economic grievances blamed on the growing gap.

Social cohesion

The communist government has made improving incomes for the poor a priority, warning last year that inequality has reached ''alarming and unacceptable'' levels.

''High inequality, particularly high absolute levels of inequality, leads to a disruption in social cohesion. You could have street demonstrations which could lead to violent civil wars,'' Ifzal Ali, the bank's chief economist, said at a news conference.

Ali said it was inappropriate to speculate when asked whether China should expect worse unrest.

However, he cited the experience of Nepal, where he said a recently ended, decade-long civil war was most intense in areas with highest inequality.