Poverty in China

Share of population in extreme poverty over time

In China, poverty mainly refers to rural poverty. Decades of economic development has reduced urban extreme poverty.[1][2][3] According to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of extreme poverty; China's poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015, as measured by the percentage of people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms,[4][5] which still stands in 2022.[6][7][8]

The Chinese definition of extreme poverty is more stringent than that of the World Bank: earning less than $2.30 a day at purchasing power parity (PPP).[9] Growth has fuelled a substantial increase in per-capita income lifting people out of extreme poverty. China's per capita income has increased fivefold between 1990 and 2000, from $200 to $1,000. Between 2000 and 2010, per capita income also rose at the same rate, from $1,000 to $5,000, moving China into the ranks of middle-income countries.

Between 1990 and 2005, China's progress accounted for more than three-quarters of global poverty reduction and was largely responsible for the world reaching the UN millennium development target of dividing extreme poverty in half. This can be attributed to a combination of a rapidly expanding labour market, driven by a protracted period of economic growth, and a series of government transfers such as an urban subsidy, and the introduction of a rural pension.[10] The World Bank Group said that the percentage of the population living below the international poverty line of $1.9 (2011 PPP) fell to 0.7 percent in 2015, and poverty line of $3.2 (2011 PPP) fell to 7% in 2015.[4]

At the end of 2018, the number of people living below China's national poverty line of ¥2,300 (CNY) per year (in 2010 constant prices) was 16.6 million, equal to 1.7% of the population at the time. On November 23, 2020, China announced that it had eliminated absolute poverty nationwide by uplifting all of its citizens beyond its set ¥2,300 per year (in 2010 constant prices),[11] or around ¥4,000 per year in 2020.[12] The World Bank has different poverty lines for countries with different gross national income (GNI). With an GNI per capita of $10,610 in 2020,[13] China is an upper middle-income country.[14][15] The poverty line for an upper middle-income country is $5.5 per day at PPP.[6][7][8][9] As of 2020, China has succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty,[8][9][16] but not the poverty defined for upper middle-income countries which China belongs to.[17][16] China still has around 13% of its population falling below this poverty line of $5.50 per day in 2020.[9] In 2020, premier Li Keqiang, citing the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that China still had 600 million people living with less than 1000 yuan ($140) a month, although an article from The Economist said that the methodology NBS used was flawed, stating that the figure took the combined income, which was then equally divided.[18]

  1. ^ Stuart, Elizabeth (August 19, 2020). "China has almost wiped out urban poverty no. Now it must tackle inequality". The Guardian. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  2. ^ "China has almost ended urban poverty – a promising start for the SDGs". Odi.org. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  3. ^ "Series". Icpsr.umich.edu. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Overview". Worldbank.org. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  5. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population) | Data". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "World Bank 2022 poverty lines". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "2022 World Bank poverty lines". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "China has reached a major milestone in ending absolute poverty. But the Communist Party isn't celebrating yet". CNN. November 27, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d "What China's 'Total Victory' Over Extreme Poverty Looks Like In Actuality". NPR. March 5, 2021.
  10. ^ "China, The Millennium Development Goals, and the Post-2015 Development Agenda" (PDF). Cn.undp.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  11. ^ Areddy, James T. (November 23, 2020). "China Says It Has Met Its Deadline of Eliminating Poverty". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  12. ^ "China announces eradication of extreme poverty in last poor counties". Reuters. November 24, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "China GNI Per Capita 1962-2022". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  14. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  15. ^ "Low, middle & high income countries 2022 by GNI per capita". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Ratio of residents living below the poverty line in China from 2000 to 2020". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  17. ^ "Chinese population living with less $ 1.90 and $ 3.20 per day". Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  18. ^ "China's poverty line is not as stingy as commentators think | The Economist". The Economist. March 20, 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.