China has made strides in poverty relief since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2012, paving the way for the government to achieve its goal of eradicating poverty by 2020.
Following are some facts and figures on China's fight against poverty, a key part of its mission to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way by 2020.
-- During the 2013-2016 period, 55.64 million rural people, or more than 10 million each year, were lifted out of poverty in China.
-- During the same period, the income of rural residents in poor areas grew faster than the national average rate.
-- In 2016 alone, China brought 12.4 million rural people above the poverty line, beating its target of lifting more than 10 million people out of poverty every year from 2016.
-- By the end of 2016, there were 43.35 million people still living below the nation's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (about 334 U.S. dollars) in annual income in 2010 constant prices.
-- The central government has allocated 196.1 billion yuan of special poverty relief funds over the past four years, representing annual average growth of 19.22 percent, Mo Jiancheng, an inspector under the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said in March this year.
-- In 2016, combined poverty relief funds from the central and provincial budgets exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time. The central government allocated 66.7 billion yuan, up 43.4 percent year on year, while provincial government spending rose more than 50 percent to top 40 billion yuan.
-- As of the end of 2016, outstanding loans from financial institutions for poverty alleviation totaled 2.5 trillion yuan, with 818.1 billion yuan in new loans in 2016.
-- Chinese authorities have stressed the use of targeted and precise poverty relief measures, creating different policies for different regions according to their needs. These policies include developing business, relocating the poor, compensating peasants in ecologically fragile areas, promoting education and improving social security.
-- China also encourages developed regions in the east to help less developed ones in the west better address poverty, with hundreds of poor counties in the east and west having formed partnerships.
-- About 775,000 officials had been dispatched to villages by the end of 2016 under a CPC program to send officials to the countryside to aid poverty relief.
-- Tens of thousands of Party and government offices, enterprises and public institutions have participated in helping villages nationwide shake off poverty.
