China lifted 83.29 million people in rural areas out of poverty from 2013 to 2018, more than 10 million each year, the National Bureau of Statistics or NBS said Monday.
China lifted 13.86 million people in rural areas out of poverty last year, the NBS said.
The country saw the number of impoverished rural residents decline from nearly 100 million in late 2012 to 16.6 million by the end of 2018, the NBS said.
The poverty ratio in rural areas dropped 94.4 percentage points during the same time period with an average annual decrease of 2.4 percentage points, according to the NBS.
NBS data shows that China's poverty relief achievements have contributed more than 70 percent to global poverty alleviation work in the past 40 years.
The average annual income of rural residents in impoverished areas saw an average growth of 10.4 percent each year from 2013 to 2018, up 2.5 percentage points from the average for rural residents.
In 2018, the average annual income of rural residents in impoverished areas rose to 10,371 yuan or about 1,530 US dollars with an inflation-adjusted year-on-year growth of 8.3 percent.
Over the past six years, 83.29 million people were lifted out of poverty in China.
People whose annual income is lower than 2,300 yuan are defined as living below the poverty line in China.
The country will continue to work vigorously to reduce poverty and lift no less than ten million people out of poverty in 2019, to lay a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty, a State Council executive meeting decided on Monday.
China recently released guidelines on winning the battle against poverty in the next three years in order to prepare the nation for eradicating poverty by 2020.
According to the guidelines, the impoverished people should be guaranteed food and clothing, and children from poor families should be guaranteed a nine year compulsory education. Basic medical needs and living conditions of the impoverished should also be guaranteed.
In the meantime, China has seen rapid income and consumption growth in rural areas over the past 70 years, according to a report from the NBS.
In 2018, rural per capita disposable income had increased 40 times from 1949 to stand at 14,617 yuan or about $2,088 in real terms after deducting price factors, up 5.5 percent on average annually, the NBS said.
The country's urban-rural income gap narrowed remarkably, with the ratio of per capita disposable income for urban residents to that of rural residents hitting 2.69 in 2018, 0.64 lower than 1956.
The rural consumption level continued to rise in the last 70 years, as indicated by its expanding size and improving quality.
Per capita rural consumption grew by an average annual rate of 5.2 percent to reach 12,124 yuan in real terms in 2018 after deducting price factors, up 32.7 times from 1949, while the Engel coefficient for rural residents dropped 38.5 percentage points from 1954 to reach 30.1 percent.
Per capita living space in rural areas reached 47.3 square meters, posing a sharp contrast to 8.1 square meters in 1978, according to the report.
Household consumption in rural areas also increased, with the average ownership of cars, computers and cellphones per 100 households reaching 22.3, 26.9 and 257, respectively in 2018. The proportion of natural villages that have access to telephone, cable TV, and broadband reached 99.2%, 88.1%, and 81.9% respectively.
