Australia vs China comparison

Question 1

What are some of the similarities between Australia and China when it comes to quality of life

Answer 1

Both have a relatively high life expectancy, both are above the global average of 73 years
Both have similar rates of change in average life expectancy
Both have pretty good literacy rates

Question 2

What is the average life expectancy in China and Australia?

Answer 2

China - 76 years

Australia - 83 years

Question 3

What is the growth in average life expectancy in China and Australia?

Answer 3

China - growth of 5.5 years from 2000 to 2019

Australia - growth of 4 years from 2000 to 2019

Question 4

What are the literacy rates of China and Australia?

Answer 4

China - 96%

Australia - 99%

Question 5

Why are the average life expectancies of both countries quite high?

Answer 5

Both have a high life expectancy because of the medicinal and health care systems provided by both countries. For example Australia has the Medicare system whereas China has the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System

Question 6

What did China’s New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System (NRCMCS) do?

Answer 6

The NRCMCS which was established in 2002 allowed for those living in rural areas to have access to basic health care coverage, and it also allowed for 800 million of the Chinese population to have access to basic health care, the government pays maybe around 30-80% of the cost required depending on what the treatment is for. It also

Question 7

What has the Chinese government done to promote healthcare in China?

Answer 7

In addition to thee NRCMCS scheme, they also introduced policies which increased the access to healthcare by rural areas, by getting family doctors living in rural areas to go to them instead of those who are injured in rural areas having to go to an urban city.

Question 8

What has the Australian government done to promote healthcare in Australia?

Answer 8

Introduction of the Medicare system in 1984, as well as the fact that the government provides subsidies for those trying to seek healthcare - they spent 180 million in 2016 on healthcare

Question 9

Why did China decide to up it’s educational reforms?

Answer 9

Because they realised that education is a driver in reducing human inequality

Question 10

How much more do Australians pay for basic groceries ?

Answer 10

73%

Question 11

How much more do Australians pay for housing?

Answer 11

3.3 times more

Question 12

How much more expensive is childcare in Australia compared to China?

Answer 12

Nearly 2 times

Question 13

What is the growth of HDI in Australia compared to China?

Answer 13

Australia only grew 0.17% compared to 0.95% by China

Question 14

What is Australia’s HDI compared to China?

Answer 14

Australia - 0.944

China - 0.761 (2020)

Question 15

What are the differences between Australia and China when it comes to quality of life?

Answer 15

Differences in cost of living
Differences in HDI
Differences in HDI growth

Question 16

What is a reason why cost of living is so high in Australia compared to China?

Answer 16

Australians earn more than Chinese counterparts

Australia has had a long period of inflation of around 3.1% from 2000 - 2010 and 2.5% from 2010-2017, this is compared to China who has a 2.2% increase from 2000 - 2010 ad 2.5% from 2010-2017. However, China’s inflation has been accompanied with a wage growth of 9.5% in 2013-2018, whereas Australia only has a 2.2% wage growth, thus resulting in a decrease of purchasing power

Question 17

What is a reason why Australia’s HDI growth has stagnated compared to China?

Answer 17

Australia can’t improve much more because they are already one of the best, they have a lack of foreign direct investment which allows for increased employment, and more tax and more government expenditure. This is compared to China who has a lot of FDI and who introduced their new healthcare system in 2002, and is thus able to grow a lot

Question 18

What is a reason why Australia’s HDI is different compared to China’s HDI?

Answer 18

Australia has 36.8 physicians per 10000 whereas China has 19.8 - more pressure on the system for China
Australia has a 12.7 mean years of schooling compared to China’s 8.1 years, higher education means high human capital and growth in skilled labour

Question 19

What are some similarities in the Distribution of Income of China and Australia?

Answer 19

Both countries utilise the progressive tax system to redistribute income. The progressive tax system taxes the highest bracket at 45%
Both have their own method of redistributing income - for Australia it is through social welfare payments such as the affordable housing schemes and Centrelink, this is compared to China’s Dibao system

Question 20

What is China’s Dibao system?

Answer 20

The Dibao program is the largest social safety net program in the world, and it was introduced in China in 1990s to reduce urban poverty, and it was implemented again during the early 2000s to rural areas to prevent rural poverty and part of it is to introduce a minimum wage system

Question 21

What is the gini coefficient of Australia and China?

Answer 21

Australia’s gini coefficient - 0.33

China’s gini coefficient - 0.47

Question 22

What is the gini coefficient of Australia and China?

Answer 22

Australia’s gini coefficient - 0.33

China’s gini coefficient - 0.47

Question 23

What is the change in gini coefficient of Australia and China?

Answer 23

China’s gini coefficient has gone up from 0.3 to 0.47 (1980-2020)
Australia’s gini coefficient has slightly increased from 0.3 to 0.33 (2001-2020)

Question 24

What are the similarities between Australia and China, regarding employment and unemployment?

Answer 24

There is a big shift towards the service sector recently and a large amount of both GDP’s come from the service sector
Australia and China both have a similar unemployment rate in 2019
Both also have a similar increase in unemployment rates during covid

Question 25

What is the percentage of GDP coming from the service sector in China and Australia?

Answer 25

China - 54.4% of GDP in 2020
Australia - 70% of GDP in 2020
Both are over half

Question 26

What are the unemployment rates in 2019 for both China and Australia?

Answer 26

Australia has 5.3% of their population unemployed in 2019, this is compared to China’s 4.3% in 2019

Question 27

What are the differences between Australia and China , regarding employment and unemployment?

Answer 27

In 2019, the two countries have different employment to population ratios

They both have a vastly different percentage of the working population in the agricultural sector

Australia has 8.5% of youth not in school or employment, whereas China has 17.9% of youth not in school or employment

Question 28

What are the similarities in environmental sustainability between the two countries?

Answer 28

Both countries have a high consumption of fossil fuels

Both countries have similar amounts of land under protection

Both governments have attempted to implement environmental policies

Question 29

What are the differences in environmental sustainability between the two countries?

Answer 29

Both countries have vastly different carbon dioxide emissions per capita despite China emitting the most co2

Both have different amount of deaths because of unsafe water

The amount of renewable energy contributing to energy production in both countries

Amount of money invested into the environmental sectors in 2020

Question 30

What percentage of the GDP does the service sector account for?

Answer 30

Australia - 70%

China - 54.4%

Question 31

What is the unemployment rate in 2019?

Answer 31

Australia - 5.3%

China - 4.3%

Question 32

What are the carbon dioxide emissions per capita of each country?

Answer 32

Australia - 16.9 tonnes

China - 7 tonnes

Question 33

What percentage of the country’s total power generation comes from renewable energy?

Answer 33

China - 43.5%

Australia - 27.7%

Question 34

How much money was invested into preventing climate change?

Answer 34

Australia - AUD 480 million dollars 2020

China - USD 34.58 billion dollars 2014

Question 35

How did Australia’s redistribution system redistribute income?

Answer 35

Through the forms of transfers, housing subsidies, welfare and unemployment benefits. Australia has one of the highest ratio of transfers (cash benefits paid to poorest 20%) in the world of 11.2. Uses Centrelink. Jobseeker.

Question 36

Why might the two countries have different amounts of carbon dioxide emissions per capita?

Answer 36

China might have a lower carbon dioxide emission per capita despite producing the most carbon dioxide in the world because of their huge population of over a billion, so thus the co2 emissions per capita decrease a lot, another reason why Australia might have a lot of co2 emissions per capita is because of Australia’s overreliance on Coal as a source of fuel (around 40%) and emits a lot of co2 despite having a small population. Another reason is that as Australia develops and new infrastructure etc. are being created, Australia needs quick and easy fuel to fuel this economic growth.

Question 37

Why might the two countries have different amounts of green power used?

Answer 37

It has been a long focus for China to shift from using coal power to renewable energies. For example, the 12th fifth year plan (2011-2015) first brought around this change

Question 38

Why might China have a higher youth not in employment or school percentage than Australia?

Answer 38

Australia put money into promoting employability of young people through government covered programs such as job-trainer to help the youth get involved with employment, meanwhile China does not have anything like this