How did China get over hundreds of millions of people from poverty?

China has managed to extract a total of 800 million people from poverty since the late 1970s, or about 100 million from 2013 to 2020 (with an annual poverty reduction rate of 33.8 percent in the seven-year period), according to Chinese research. Prof. Dr. Wang Sangui, Dean of the Chinese Institute for Research on the Fight against Poverty at Renmin University in China, noted that eradication of absolute poverty is the main task of accomplishing the first centenary strategic goal of the Communist Party of China and building a moderately prosperous society

Shared Chinese Practices to eradicate poverty

China’s results achieved to eradicate poverty attract a lot of attention, with Chinese economic experts share their experience in dealing with this global problem, offering hope to improve the living standards of the most vulnerable population in other countries. China has managed to extract a total of 800 million people from poverty since the late 1970s, or about 100 million from 2013 to 2020 (with an annual poverty reduction rate of 33.8 percent in the seven-year period), according to Chinese research.
Prof. Dr. Wang Sangui, Dean of the Chinese Institute for Research on the Fight against Poverty at Renmin University in China, noted that eradication of absolute poverty is a basic task of accomplishing the first centennial strategic goal of the Communist Party of China and building a moderately prosperous society. Sustainable rapid economic growth through rural reforms, agricultural development, labor -intensive production and population employment, according to the professor, are several factors that have played a key role in reducing poverty in China.

Access by identifying the causes of poverty and adjusting solutions for its eradication

Poverty mitigation was highlighted by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Hunan in November 2013, which said on that occasion that poverty mitigation should be practical and realistic and adapt to local conditions.

« To make the correctly targeted poverty, do not shout slogans and set no ambitious goals, » President Si Jinping said then.
For this purpose, China identified poor households, whose number in 2013 was 29.48 million, with a total population of 89.62 million. Moreover, the state registers all poor households and populations, with details of families, available resources, revenue sources and causes of poverty, within the national information system for poverty mitigation. Recorded poor households are the main goals of all types of poverty reduction programs. And households close to the poverty threshold are monitored and recorded as poor if they are in poverty.
This approach focuses on identifying the underlying causes of poverty in different regions and adequate adjustment of solutions for its eradication – through job creation, education, health care, infrastructure development…
Eradication of poverty is a continuous process, so China has developed a system for monitoring the revenue and living conditions of the most vulnerable population, offering support through subsidies, employment training, and relocation in necessary cases.
Professor Wang Sangui added that the state had adopted goals to resolve development issues, as well as to extract people from acute poverty. China strives to make significant progress in comprehensive rural revitalization and promote modernization of agriculture and rural areas by 2027, according to a plan issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. It is emphasized that industrial development, quality education and available health also play a key role in the Chinese strategy for rooting poverty.

Milko Zivkovic, our rapporteur from China