Combating Poverty
China has made decisive progress in its fight against poverty over the past five years: More than 60 million people have been lifted out of poverty and the poverty headcount ratio has dropped from 10.2 percent to less than four percent. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his 2018 New Year address, “By 2020, China will lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty. That is our solemn commitment, and we will honor it.”
Poverty relief work should focus more on areas of extreme poverty, quality of poverty relief and targeted poverty alleviation as well as a combination of external aid and internal impetus, a mix of development-oriented poverty relief and social security, explained Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.