China's Gini coefficient, a standard measure of a country's overall income inequality, rose to 0.473 in 2004 from 0.4 in 1993, according to a report by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) released yesterday.

It is the latest figure for assessing income disparities and crosses the international warning line of 0.4.

A coefficient of between 0.3 and 0.4 is generally deemed normal, but the larger it is, the more serious the inequality.