China claims it has beaten extreme poverty, but what has it actually achieved?
- President Xi Jinping called it a major victory for the Chinese Communist Party, but experts say there’s still a lot to be done
- Life has approved for many people, but government corruption and loose income measurement standards mean there’s more work ahead
People watch a live stream of the ceremony to mark the country's accomplishments in poverty eradication after Chinese President Xi Jinping declared his country had achieved the "human miracle" of eliminating extreme poverty. Photo: AFPChina claimed last year it had met its target of lifting all its people out of extreme poverty.
President Xi Jinping heralded it as a “major victory” that the Chinese Communist Party had wanted to achieve before the 100 year anniversary of its founding in 2021.
But what do the numbers say?
The Chinese Communist Party claims it has ended extreme poverty in China, which President Xi Jinping called a major victory. Photo: AP
What counts as poverty?
China’s poverty line is around US$2.30 a day (HK$17.84) - slightly above the World Bank’s lowest threshold of US$1.90 (HK$14.74) but below what is recommended for measuring higher income countries.
Local officials have gone door-to-door to determine who is impoverished, measuring by income, housing conditions, lack of medical insurance and whether family members drop out of school.
Some families who own cars or large farm equipment were automatically ruled out of consideration, regardless of their other circumstances.
What has been achieved?
China has brought over 800 million people out of extreme poverty, said the World Bank, after launching economic reforms in the 1970s.
Its extreme poverty rate fell from 66.3 per cent in 1990 to just 0.3 per cent in 2018 - making up for over 60 per cent of the decrease in global poverty, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
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Nearly everyone now completes compulsory schooling, matching the average level across the world’s high-income countries, and the UN says the child mortality rate also dropped drastically in the last two decades.
“For the vast majority of Chinese, life has dramatically improved in the space of a generation,” said World Bank country director Martin Raiser.
Farmer Mi Jiazhi uses his mobile phone in front of his new residence in Baojing county, in central China's Hunan province. China's decades-long war to eradicate extreme poverty has yielded remarkable results, but experts warn that rising incomes have made its poverty line outdated. Photo: AFP
Are China’s claims believable?
Beijing’s official statistics are often approached with scepticism, and experts say poverty figures do not tell the whole story.
There have been hundreds of thousands of corruption cases linked to poverty work, says University of Western Ontario economics professor Terry Sicular.
That includes local officials who falsified data by classifying friends and family as poor to receive funding.
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China’s official poverty line is also low when compared to average household income, Sicular added.
The World Bank recommends the higher benchmark of US$5.50 (HK$42.67) a day to gauge poverty in upper-middle income economies.
Raiser estimates that around 13 per cent of China’s population still lives on an income below that level.
Continued poverty alleviation in China will require teaching people skills that can be used in higher productivity jobs. Photo: AFP
Is it sustainable?
Funding for poverty reduction may seem large in absolute terms but is also just “a small percentage of government revenue,” Sicular says.
While living standards have increased over recent decades, Beijing must now look for newer strategies for those on the cusp of the poverty line, she adds.
In many areas, local governments - who have largely been responsible for improving living standards - are also facing limited financial resources.
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Many are highly in debt, having invested heavily in infrastructure to tackle poverty, or have benefitted from short-term tax incentives or subsidies.
“Reducing economic vulnerability going forward may require greater focus on investing in skills and helping people move towards jobs in the cities,” Raiser added.