China predicts over 10 million people to be lifted out of poverty in 2018

World
Europe

China forecasted that the number of people in rural areas lifted out of poverty in 2018 will cross 10 million, with around 280 counties to be removed from the list of the impoverished areas and 2.8 million people to be relocated.

The figures were revealed on Friday at a work conference by China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (SCLGOPAD).

If those goals are to be accomplished as predicted, then 2018 would be the sixth consecutive year for China to go beyond the annual target of lifting 10 million people out of poverty.

This year, 334 counties and over 30,000 villages of extreme poverty have been identified mainly in the so-called "three regions" and "three prefectures" – Tibet, Southern Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu.

"The poverty incidence in the 'three regions' and 'three prefectures' has been reduced to 8.2 percent this year from last year's 14.6 percent. The decrease of 6.4 percent is 3.3 percent higher than the average level in west China," Liu Yongfu, director of the SCLGOPAD said at the conference.

Since 2013, over 80 million people have been lifted out of poverty under China's current standard.

People with an annual income lower than 2,300 yuan (around 336.1 U.S. dollars), based on 2010 prices, are defined as living below the poverty line in China.

At the National Meeting on Poverty Reduction and Development held in Beijing on Thursday and Friday, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua also called for efforts to lift another 10 million rural residents out of poverty nationwide in 2019.

What you should know about China's poverty alleviation campaign