Chinese farmers in impoverished areas see robust income growth

BEIJING -- China's rural residents in poverty-stricken areas saw robust disposable income growth in the first three quarters of the year, official data showed.

The per capita disposable income of these residents stood at 8,163 yuan (about $1,167), up 10.8 percent year on year during the period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The income increased 8 percent from the same period last year after deducting price factors. The growth rate was 1.6 percentage points higher than that of rural residents nationwide and 1.9 percentage points higher than the national average.

In breakdown, the per capita wage income expanded 12.2 percent year on year, with the growth rate up 2.8 percentage points from that of the overall rural area, the NBS said.

Wu Wei, a senior statistician with the NBS, attributed the steady growth of farmer's wage income to the increase of hired rural labors in central and western parts of China, together with the stable rise of wages.

Per capita net operating revenue in impoverished areas climbed 6.8 percent, expanding 1.3 percentage points faster than one year earlier, with the income from the tertiary industry registering a yearly growth of 11.2 percent.

Income from the agricultural sector rose 3.8 percent year on year, bucking the trend of a 3.9 percent drop from last year, thanks to expanded summer grain output and price rises of animal husbandry products.

The farmers' per capita income from the government climbed 15.3 percent year on year, which includes pension, social relief, agriculture subsidies and living allowance, etc.

In the past six years, China lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million in 2012 to 16.6 million in 2018.

The country is aiming to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty and eliminate poverty in all counties and regions by 2020.