6% of China’s newest stock market investors can’t read

China’s stock market has exploded by 78% in the last year, and that rapid growth has people debating — is this driven by fundamentals or the sheer force of China’s new investors?  

We have something of an answer to that from new data collected in the China Household Finance Survey. 

The survey broke down the education level of China’s new stock holders — 5.8 % of them can’t read, and for 60% junior high is the highest level of education they’ve attained.

Bloomberg China economist Tom Orlik tweeted out this handy graphic with more data:

More than two thirds of new investors in China equities have less than high school education, survey shows pic.twitter.com/0y1tCvtHhw
— Tom Orlik (@TomOrlik) March 27, 2015

“The new survey data add to the impression of a rally fueled by inexperienced retail investors,” Orlik wrote in a research note analyzing the data. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be sustained. China has a large population with a substantial volume of savings and limited alternative investment options. It does mean that the trajectory of China’s markets will be unpredictable, and prone to sudden reversals as sentiment shifts.”

Orlik also pointed out that Chinese investors may see the stock market as an alternative to its now-ailing housing market. Chinese property prices fell 5.1% in January from the same time the year before. In February they fell 5.7% from the same time the year before.

Numbers like that — on top of data suggesting that the country has a deflation problem — are scaring Chinese officials. At a meeting with regional leaders on Sunday, the head of the People’s Bank of China that the economy was slowing “a bit too much.”

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