China's battle against poverty has won a comprehensive victory

Our reporter Luo Chen

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has placed poverty alleviation in a prominent position in governing the country, regarded poverty alleviation as the bottom-line task of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and organized and launched the people's war
against poverty with precise poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation as the basic strategy.
A few days ago, the National Bureau of Statistics released a series of reports on economic and social development achievements since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, showing that after eight years of continuous struggle, China's rural poor population has all been lifted out of poverty, absolute poverty has been eliminated, regional overall poverty has been solved, and the battle against poverty has achieved a comprehensive victory
.
After winning the battle against poverty, all regions and departments continued to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, consolidate and expand the achievements in poverty alleviation, continue to promote rural revitalization in poverty alleviation areas, and the income of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties has grown rapidly, and the quality of life has continued to improve
.

Win the battle against poverty as scheduled

All the rural poor have been lifted out of poverty

The report shows that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have promoted poverty alleviation with unprecedented efforts, taking poverty-stricken areas as key areas for poverty alleviation, focusing on deeply impoverished areas and special poor groups, optimizing policy supply, and making sufficient efforts to "embroidery", by the end of 2020, all rural poor people under the current standards will be lifted out of poverty, and the overall regional poverty will be solved, contributing China's strength
to the cause of world poverty reduction.

From 2013 to 2020, the cumulative number of rural poor people nationwide decreased by 98.
99 million, with an average annual poverty reduction of 12.
37 million, and the incidence of poverty decreased by 1.
3 percentage points
per year.
In 2020, in the face of the sudden new crown pneumonia epidemic, all regions and departments organized poor labor to go out to work in accordance with the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, carried out consumption poverty alleviation actions, and implemented basic living guarantees, and all the remaining 5.
51 million rural poor people at the beginning of the year were lifted out of poverty, completing the arduous task
of eliminating absolute poverty as scheduled.
The income level of the poor has increased significantly, and the "two worries and three guarantees" have been fully realized
.
The results of the national poverty alleviation survey show that 22 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) in central and western China have fully realized that they do not worry about food and clothing, compulsory education, basic medical care, housing safety are guaranteed, and drinking water safety is also guaranteed, and the battle against poverty has achieved a comprehensive victory
.

Among them, more than half of the rural poverty reduction population comes from the western region, and the overall regional poverty reduction has achieved remarkable
results.
From 2013 to 2020, the cumulative number of rural poor people in poverty-stricken areas decreased by 60.
39 million, with an average annual poverty reduction of 7.
55 million, accounting for 61.
0% of the total scale of
rural poverty reduction in the country.
The cumulative number of rural poor in contiguous poverty-stricken areas has decreased by 50.
67 million, with an average annual poverty reduction of 6.
33 million
.
The cumulative number of rural poor in key counties for poverty alleviation and development work has decreased by 51.
05 million, with an average annual poverty reduction of 6.
38 million
.

China's contribution to global poverty reduction is more than 70%.

Since the reform and opening up, according to the World Bank's international poverty standard of $1.
9 per person per day, China's poverty reduction population accounted for more than
70% of the global poverty reduction population in the same period.
According to the World Bank's public data, the incidence of poverty in China dropped from 88.
3% at the end of 1981 to 0.
5% at the end of 2016, a cumulative decrease of 87.
8 percentage points, an average annual decrease of 2.
5 percentage points, and the incidence of global poverty decreased from 42.
7% to 9.
7% in the same period, a cumulative decrease of 33.
0 percentage points and an average annual decrease of 0.
9 percentage points
.
The rate of poverty reduction in China is significantly faster than that of the world, and the incidence of poverty is also much lower than the global average
.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has implemented the basic strategy of precise poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation, and achieved remarkable results in poverty alleviation, providing Chinese solutions and Chinese experience
for global poverty reduction.
The World Bank's 2018 China Systematic Country Diagnosis report found that China has made unprecedented progress
in reducing poverty.
In his 2021 letter congratulating China on its historic achievements in poverty alleviation, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, "China's extraordinary achievements have brought hope and inspiration
to the entire international community.
This achievement proves that the Government's political commitment and policy stability are essential to improve the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable"
.
China not only directly contributes to the cause of world poverty reduction with its own poverty reduction achievements, but also actively supports the development of poverty reduction in developing countries, implements international poverty reduction cooperation projects that benefit people's livelihood, carries out various forms of poverty reduction experience sharing and exchange, and actively helps other countries accelerate the pace of
poverty reduction.

The achievements in poverty alleviation have been consolidated and expanded

The quality of life of rural residents in poverty alleviation areas continues to improve

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to the development of poverty-stricken areas and continuously increased their support, so that the income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has achieved rapid growth, the standard of living consumption has increased significantly, and the gap with the national rural average has been continuously narrowed
.

The income growth of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has continued to be faster than that of rural areas
across the country.
In 2020, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas was 12,588 yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 11.
6% from 2013 to 2020, 2.
3 percentage points faster than the average annual growth rate of rural areas nationwide; excluding price factors, the average annual real growth rate was 9.
2%, 2.
2 percentage points
faster than the average annual real growth rate of rural areas nationwide 。 Especially in 2020, in the face of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, all localities quickly adopted effective measures to give priority to the stable employment of poor labor, effectively solve the problem of unsold agricultural products in poor areas, take multiple measures to help poor households stabilize income channels, and achieve steady growth in the income of rural residents in poor areas throughout the year, with per capita disposable income reaching 73.
5% of the national rural average, an increase of 11.
4 percentage points over 2012, and the gap with the national rural average has been further narrowed
。 From a regional perspective, in 2020, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in contiguous poverty-stricken areas was 12,420 yuan, with an average annual growth of 11.
6% from 2013 to 2020, 2.
3 percentage points
faster than that of rural areas across the country.
The per capita disposable income of rural residents in key counties of the national poverty alleviation and development work was 12,499 yuan, with an average annual growth of 11.
9% from 2013 to 2020, 2.
6 percentage points
faster than that of rural areas across the country.

The income structure of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas continued to be optimized
.
Employment has achieved remarkable results in poverty alleviation, and wage income has become the primary source of
income.
In 2020, the per capita wage income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas was 4,444 yuan, with an average annual growth of 12.
7% from 2014 to 2020, accounting for 35.
3% of disposable income, an increase of 3.
7 percentage points
over 2013.
Net operating income grew steadily, and the proportion of non-agricultural operating income increased
.
In 2020, the per capita net operating income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas was 4,391 yuan, with an average annual growth of 6.
7% from 2014 to 2020, accounting for 34.
9%
of disposable income.
Among them, the per capita net operating income of secondary and tertiary production was 1192 yuan, with an average annual growth of 12.
8%, accounting for 1.
0 percentage points
higher than that of 2013.
The net income from property and transfer has grown rapidly, and the sources of income have become more diversified
.
In 2020, the per capita net property income and net transfer income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas reached 185 yuan and 3,567 yuan respectively, with an average annual increase of 16.
8% and 15.
4% from 2014 to 2020, respectively, accounting for 29.
8% of disposable income, an increase of 7.
3 percentage points
over 2013.

The consumption level of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has increased
significantly.
In 2020, the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas reached 10,758 yuan, with an average annual growth of 10.
9% from 2013 to 2020, and an average annual real growth of 8.
6%
after deducting price factors.
In 2020, the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas was 78.
5% of the national rural average, an increase of 8.
0 percentage points
over 2012.
In terms of structure, the proportion of basic living consumption expenditure such as eating and clothing has shrunk, and the Engel coefficient has further declined
.
In 2020, the per capita expenditure on food, tobacco and alcohol of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas was 3,632 yuan, with an average annual growth of 8.
4% from 2014 to 2020, accounting for 33.
8% of consumption expenditure (Engel coefficient), down 4.
4 percentage points from 2013; per capita clothing expenditure was 588 yuan, with an average annual growth of 8.
4% from 2014 to 2020, accounting for 5.
5% of consumer expenditure, down 0.
7 percentage points
from 2013 。 The per capita expenditure reached RMB1,261, RMB1,128 and RMB1,061 in 2020, with an average annual growth of 13.
7%, 12.
3% and 13.
8% from 2014 to 2020.
The proportion of consumer expenditure was 11.
7%, 10.
5% and 9.
9% respectively, up 2.
2, 1.
2 and 1.
9 percentage points
respectively over 2013.

Production and living conditions in impoverished areas have improved
markedly.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, rural infrastructure in impoverished areas has been markedly improved, the coverage of the "four links" has been continuously expanded, social undertakings have made great progress, cultural, educational, and health resources have been gradually enriched, and the people have no worries about food and clothing, and have historically solved
problems such as difficulties in going to school, seeking medical treatment, housing, drafting, traveling, electricity, and telecommunications.

The living environment of the poor population continues to improve, the village environment is basically clean, tidy and orderly, and the appearance of the village has been significantly improved
.
In 2020, the proportion of farmers living in bamboo adobe houses and cooking firewood in poverty-stricken areas was 0.
8% and 29.
3%, respectively, down 7.
0 and 31.
8 percentage points
from 2012.
The proportion of households using piped water supply and toilets alone was 91.
0% and 97.
2%, respectively 34.
6 and 6.
2 percentage points
higher than in 2012.
The results of the National Poverty Alleviation Survey show that in poverty-stricken areas, 65.
5% of administrative villages have achieved centralized water supply, and 31.
9% of administrative villages have partially achieved centralized water supply.
The proportion of administrative villages that have achieved centralized garbage treatment or removal and transportation is 89.
9%, and the proportion of administrative villages that partially realize centralized garbage treatment or removal and transportation is 9.
0%.

After winning the battle against poverty, all regions and departments continue to conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, improve the implementation of dynamic monitoring and support mechanisms for preventing poverty return, strengthen follow-up support for poverty alleviation and relocation, strengthen employment assistance for poverty alleviation labor, achieve rapid growth in the income of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties, and continue to improve
consumption levels.

The income growth of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties continues to be faster than that of rural areas
across the country.
In 2021, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties will be 14,051 yuan, a nominal increase of 11.
6% over the previous year, and after deducting price factors, the actual growth rate will be 10.
8%, and the nominal and actual growth rates will be 1.
1 percentage points
faster than the rural areas of the country.
Among them, the growth rate of the three incomes of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties is faster than that of rural income in the country
.
Per capita wage income was 5,129 yuan, an increase of 15.
4 percent, 1.
3 percentage points faster than that of rural areas nationwide; per capita net operating income was 4,791 yuan, an increase of 9.
1 percent, 1.
1 percentage points faster than that of rural areas nationwide; and per capita net transfer income was 3,929 yuan, an increase of 10.
1 percent, 2.
6 percentage points
faster than that of rural areas nationwide.
From the perspective of income structure, wage income is still the primary source of income for rural residents in poverty alleviation counties, and its proportion continues to increase
.
In 2021, the proportion of wage income of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties to disposable income will be 36.
5%, an increase of 1.
2 percentage points
over the previous year.

The living standards of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties have steadily improved
.
In 2021, the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents in poverty alleviation counties was 12,311 yuan, a nominal increase of 14.
4% over the previous year, and the actual increase was 13.
6%
after deducting price factors.
Among them, the per capita consumption expenditure on food, tobacco and alcohol was 4,206 yuan, an increase of 15.
8%.

Expenditure on housing and daily necessities increased steadily, and the quality of life improved steadily, with per capita residential consumption expenditure of 2,453 yuan, an increase of 7.
1%; Per capita consumption expenditure on daily necessities and services was 697 yuan, an increase of 11.
1%.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has launched an all-round battle against poverty, scored major historic achievements, and created a miracle on earth that shines in the annals of history
.
Poverty alleviation is not the end, but the starting point
of a new life and a new struggle.
On the basis of consolidating the achievements in poverty alleviation, we should continue to promote the development of poverty alleviation areas and the improvement of people's living standards, and continue to advance
towards the goal of gradually realizing common prosperity for all people.

China Food News (October 20, 2022, Edition 04)

(Editor: Yang Xiaojing).