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Poverty-relief program long way to go
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-04-02 09:23 Although China's rural poverty-relief program is
going smoothly, the situation of the country's poverty alleviation work remains
serious, Liu Jian, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty
Alleviation and Development, said in Chengdu recently.
By the end of 2005, Liu said, China had 23.65 million needy people with per
capita annual income below 683 yuan (85.4 US dollars), which is only 20 percent
of the average annual income of the country's rural population.
Besides, the country has 40.67 million people whose annual income is less
than 944 yuan (118 US dollars).
In line with the international standards, the number of the needy population
in China is the second largest in the world after India, Liu said.
More than half of the poverty-stricken population in China are living in
mountainous areas. Each has less than one mu (0.067 hectare) of farmland.
He said the food supply problem has not been fundamentally solved in some
poverty-hit areas.
In the 100 poverty-stricken counties that are investigated by the office,
about 36.4 percent of the households suffer from food shortages to different
extents.
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