Panel 8 A Substantial Rise in Living Standards for the Poor

Incomes have increased rapidly. The per capita disposable income of rural residents in poor areas reached RMB12,588 in 2020. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 9.2 percent in real terms from 2013 to 2020, 2.2 percentage points higher than the average growth for rural residents nationwide. Formerly impoverished households now have adequate food, clothing and bedding for every season and all weather conditions.

Their ability to keep themselves free from poverty has steadily increased. The government has created more jobs through multiple channels and carried out large-scale vocational skills training, helping over 30 million impoverished people to find jobs. In all, 93.8 percent of registered poor households have benefited from employment assistance policies. More than two thirds of registered poor people emerged from poverty by entering the workforce, and their number rose from 15.3 million in 2016 to 32.4 million in 2020.

Compulsory education is available for all school-age children. The 200,000 children from registered poor households who dropped out of compulsory education were all identified and helped back to school in a timely manner. The chronic dropout problem among the registered poor had thus been solved. In 2020, the nine-year compulsory education completion rate in poor counties reached 94.8 percent. Since 2012, a total of 5.1 million students from registered poor households have received higher education, with millions of these households seeing the first family member ever to attend a university. During this period, key universities recruited a total of 700,000 students from rural and impoverished areas through a targeted program.

Basic medical services are guaranteed for the poor. The three-tiered medical services system at village, township and county levels has been steadily improved. Measures have been taken to provide medical treatment to those with major illnesses, and ensure contracted health care for those with chronic illnesses. Almost all now have access to basic medical insurance, major illness insurance, and medical assistance. Under these arrangements, approximately 80 percent of the hospitalization and outpatient expenses for treating chronic or special illnesses can be reimbursed. These developments have increased the availability and lowered the cost of medical care and effectively reduced healthrelated poverty.

Safe housing has been guaranteed. Through a poverty-alleviation program to renovate substandard rural houses, 25.7 million poor from 7.9 million households have had their dilapidated dwellings renovated. Meanwhile, housing improvement assistance has been provided to 10.8 million rural households experiencing economic difficulties, including households entitled to subsistence allowances, people cared for in their homes with government support, and families with members suffering from disabilities. A total of 23.4 million registered poor households have moved into safe homes which are more comfortable and offer better protection against earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Access to safe drinking water has been ensured. An upgraded program to improve drinking water safety has been launched in rural areas, providing adequate supplies of drinking water that meet the relevant standards to 382 million people, including 28.9 million formerly living in poverty. Tap water coverage in poor areas increased from 70 percent in 2015 to 83 percent in 2020.