China aiming to take 70m citizens above poverty line in next 6 years
Print Edition
CHINA hopes to lift 70 million citizens currently living below the poverty line to safety within the next six years, at an average rate of a million people a month, a State Council official said yesterday.
Poverty alleviation will be a major task in China’s 2016-2020 development plan, Hong Tianyun told a press conference ahead of the 23rd International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Saturday, which also marks China’s second National Poverty Relief Day.
Despite rapid economic growth in the past two decades, poverty remains a huge issue in China, especially in rural areas where a lack of jobs drives able-bodied adults to work elsewhere, leaving children and the elderly behind.
“We have six years to eradicate all poverty,” said Hong, deputy director of the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of China.
The 70 million people, mostly in the countryside, earn less than 2,300 yuan (US$364) a year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Hong said the short timeframe puts pressure on local governments.
“If there are no special major initiatives, it will be extremely difficult to achieve this mission,” Hong said. “So, from the central to local authorities, from top to bottom, the pressure has been coming down.”
China was the first developing country to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals target of reducing the population living in poverty by half ahead of a 2015 deadline.
Over the past 15 years, it has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty, accounting for about 70 percent of those brought out of poverty worldwide.
The central treasury channeled more money into a poverty relief fund this year.
About 12.3 million people earned enough in 2014 to move above the poverty line, compared with 43.3 million in 2011.
China previously set 2020 as a target for virtually eliminating poverty within its borders, proposing a program including free vocational schools, better public services, financing for new businesses and improvements in rural health care and roads.
On Friday, Beijing is to host the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, during which around 300 representatives will gather to share their experiences in combating poverty.
President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the forum.
Hong said the government will come up with a string of more effective and targeted measures to achieve the goal, including launching education campaigns, encouraging financial support and building public platforms to mobilize more people to join the fight.
While striving to reduce poverty domestically, China has also supported other developing countries in the cause.
Speaking at a United Nations summit last month, Xi pledged an initial US$2 billion to establish an assistance fund to help developing nations reach the target.
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