China's abject poverty population has been reduced by more than
100 million in the 20-year period from 1985 to 2005, thanks to the
country's poverty alleviation efforts, a senior poverty relief
official said Tuesday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
At the end of last year, China had 23.65 million needy people
whose per capita annual income is less than US$85, a poverty line
set by the government. US$85 is just 20 percent of the average
annual income of the country's rural population, said Liu Jian,
director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty
Alleviation and Development.
China had 125 million people in abject poverty with per capita
annual income below US$85 in 1985. But now the country has 40.67
million people whose annual income is less than 944 yuan
(US$118).
The Chinese government has made huge efforts to reduce poverty
and improve the living standards of the people. Departments have
been established to push forward poverty reduction across the
country since the mid-1980s.
The central government allocated 13.4 billion yuan (US$1.675
billion) to poverty reduction in 2006 alone and the amount will
increase in the future, Liu said.
According to the latest figures from Liu's office, in the 592
poverty-stricken counties to which the central government has
provided priority poverty reduction support, 79 percent of local
villages have been linked up with the outside by highways, 95.8
percent have been given access to electricity and 70 percent of
local villages had access to safe drinking water by the end of last
year.
Moreover, 73.8 percent of local villages have installed fixed
telephones and 87.6 percent of local villages have access to TV
programs.
Currently, 94.7 percent of school age children in the 592
counties are studying at school and local people enjoy better, more
convenient medical services, according to Liu's office.
Although China's rural poverty-relief program is going smoothly,
serious challenges remain in poverty alleviation work, said Wu
Zhong, head of the International Cooperation and Social Poverty
Relief Department of the State Council Leading Group Office of
Poverty Alleviation and Development.
If the international "a-dollar-per-day" income standard is used
(US$1), China's needy population numbers more than 100 million, Wu
told an international symposium on anti-population and
international cooperation, held in Chengdu, capital of southwest
China's Sichuan Province.
More than half of the poverty-stricken population in China live
in mountainous areas.
Liu said the central government would continue to play a key
role in poverty reduction and in improving the living standards of
low-income people.
More highways and drinking water facilities would be built in
rural areas, Liu said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)