China Will Achieve Poverty Alleviation This Year

By REN ZHAOXIA

Since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China， the Chinese government has been working hard to solve the problem of poverty. Especially after the reform and opening-up started， it began to carry out well organized， well planned， and large-scale rural poverty alleviation through development. In 2017， China began a three-year poverty alleviation campaign to ensure that all poor people will be lifted out of poverty by the end of 2020.

Remarkable Results in Poverty Alleviation

According to the current rural poverty standards， since the reform and opening-up started， Chinas rural population in poverty has decreased from 770 million in 1978 to 5.51 million at the end of 2019. The incidence of rural poverty has also dropped from about 97.5 percent to 0.6 percent during this period. Of the 128，000 poor villages in the country， as of 2019， only 2， 707 were still under the poverty line. After all the rural poor have been lifted out of poverty this year， China will achieve the poverty reduction goal of the UNs 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. According to data released by the World Bank， China has contributed more than 70 percent to world poverty reduction.

Substantial Improvement in Rural Quality of Life

Since the introduction of targeted poverty alleviation in 2013， the average annual growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents in poor areas has remained 2.2 percentage points higher than that in the countrys rural areas， reaching RMB 11，567 in 2019， which is 72.2 percent of the national average level in rural areas， 10.1 percentage points higher than it was in 2012. In addition， the living environment has also been greatly improved. With access to highways at the end of May 2020 in Abuluoha Village in Liangshan， Sichuan Province， China has achieved the milestone of providing highway access to every village. Meanwhile， the reliability rate of rural power supply has reached 99 percent， and the broadband coverage of deeply impoverished villages stands at 98 percent.

Establishing a Policy System

In 2015， the Chinese government set poverty alleviation as the bottom-line goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Not only has China established a system of poverty alleviation including the responsibility system， policy system， investment system， mobilization system， supervision system， and assessment system， but it also has clarified the seven poverty alleviation paths through industrial development， employment， relocation， education， health services， ecological protection， and social security.

As of the end of April this year， 9.5 million relocated people have settled in new homes across the country under the poverty alleviation program， and the task has so far been completed by 99.4 percent. Meanwhile， in more than 90 percent of the poor and relocated families at least one member is employed. More than 90 percent of the poverty-stricken people have received industrial poverty alleviation and employment support.

Overcoming COVID-19 and Achieving Poverty Alleviation

Although the epidemic has had great impact on Chinas and the worlds economy， the Chinese government still adheres to the goal of achieving full poverty alleviation across the country by the end of this year. As of May 17， there were still 52 poor counties in the country that have not shaken off poverty. By the end of 2019， there were still 2， 707 impoverished villages that were not able to get rid of poverty. In order to ensure the completion of the goal， the office implemented supervision on the counties and villages with higher poverty levels.

Besides， the central and provincial governments have increased investment. As of April 10， funds spent on poverty alleviation projects reached RMB 79.1 billion， and the number of poor rural residents working outside of their hometowns reached 23.5 million. In addition， the central government has increased the proportion of central expenditure on wage payment for work-relief programs from 10 percent to 15 percent， and this program is expected to help 300，000 impoverished laborers affected by the epidemic find employment close to their homes. In May， the Chinese government launched the Digital Platform Economy to Promote Employment and Help Poverty Alleviation Action to provide rural poor people affected by the epidemic with home employment， self-employment， and income-increasing opportunities.

Funding Guarantees Poverty Alleviation

China has increased its fiscal expenditure on poverty alleviation year by year. By the end of March this year， special poverty alleviation funds of RMB 139.6 billion have been released by the central government. Since 2016， the central governments expenditure on poverty alleviation has reached RMB 530.4 billion.

Financial institutions have also increased loans to poor areas. As of the end of 2019， the national targeted poverty alleviation loan balance was RMB 3.96 trillion， an increase of RMB 340.3 billion from the end of the previous year. And an increase of 4.83 percent was reported at the end of the first quarter of 2020. The Agricultural Development Bank of China， which mainly serves rural areas， has granted a total of RMB 184.3 billion in poverty alleviation loans as of May 20， 2020， an increase of RMB 77. 4 billion over the same period last year. Since 2015， it has granted a total of RMB 2.33 trillion in loans for poverty alleviation.

According to Chinas Regional Financial Operation Report （2020）， the balance of industrial poverty alleviation loans was nearly RMB 1.2 trillion at the end of 2019， with an average annual growth rate of 27.39 percent since 2016.