A common prosperity research center is inaugurated in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on March 31. [Photo/Ningbo Evening News]

A common prosperity research center in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, was inaugurated on March 31, according to local media reports.

The facility will serve as a platform for the city to boost cooperation and exchanges in common prosperity and display research results in that regard.

Zhang Junkuo, former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and Jin Yan, director of the Publicity of the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee, addressed the inauguration ceremony.

Ningbo has made strides in the pursuit of common prosperity in recent years.

The income ratio between local urban and rural residents stood at 1.72 in 2021, the 17th consecutive year the city's urban-rural income gap had narrowed.

The per capita disposable income of the city's urban residents rose to 73,869 yuan ($11,364.5), while the figure for rural residents was 42,946 yuan, official statistics show.

By the end of last year, all its administrative villages had seen their annual operating revenue surpass 150,000 yuan.

According to the action plan aimed at making Ningbo a pioneer in the provincial campaign to achieve common prosperity during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the city will facilitate in-depth systematic reform in fields including social security, finance, land and transfer payment. It will also ensure that labor remuneration grows in tandem with labor productivity.

In addition, efforts will be made to lift the scale of middle-income groups and raise the per capita GDP to the level of moderately developed economies.

By 2025, the development gap between its urban and rural areas will be further narrowed, with the ratio of per capita GDP and per capita disposable income between urban and rural residents decreasing to 2.32 and 1.36 respectively.