Chinese consumers may "rescue" the global economy over the next few years as they shop more, save less and replace Americans as the biggest spenders, according to Credit Suisse Group.

From 2004 to 2009 the savings ratio in China dropped to 12% from 26%, according to a survey of 2,700 people in eight cities in October and November by Credit Suisse.

"The Chinese are saving less," Credit Suisse analysts Vincent Chan and Peggy Chan wrote in a report. "The reduced savings are spent mainly on housing. Hopefully, with a more stable property market, a large portion of Chinese households' income could be spent on other consumer products."

China's share of global consumption will jump more than fourfold to 23.1% in 2020, from 5.2% in 2009, and it will overtake the United States as the world's largest consumer market, the report said.

The nation's cumulative retail sales to November were €1.14 trillion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. They were about €1.26 trillion for all of 2009, based on projected data for December using average growth rates the previous two months.

"World leaders today are pinning their hopes on Chinese consumers spending more to rescue the world economy and restore the global economic balance, following the fall of the United States' supremacy in consumerism," the analysts wrote in the report last week. "They might get some comfort from our survey."

Bloomberg