Learn more about the Government's poverty reduction targets and strategies as well as international targets and strategies.
| Objectives |
- improving the subsistence standards of the poor (e.g., income, land, job opportunities, and livestock or other income-generating opportunities)
- improving rural infrastructure for the poor (e.g., potable water, roads, electricity)
- providing essential social services (e.g., primary education for all, vocational and technical education to master two agricultural skills, family planning, and disease prevention and treatment)
|
| Approach |
- area-focused, with a strong emphasis on social and economic infrastructure provision, labor-based employment policies and public works
- group based income generation and microfinance through township and village enterprise development
- in urban areas, city based social assistance protect the poor
|
| Achievements |
- Between 1978 and 2000 the number of absolute poor in PRC's rural areas decreased from 260 million to 30 million. Rural poverty today is significantly lower than in 1994 when the 8-7 Poverty Reduction Program began.
- PRC's poverty reduction performance has also been good judged by social development indicators such as increasing life expectancy, decreasing infant mortality rates and improving literacy rates.
- Between 1994 and 2000 the government spent about $13.6 billion for poverty reduction efforts, three times the funds invested between 1986 and 1993.
|
| Reasons for Success |
- poverty reduction is mainstreamed not only among most ministries at the central and local level, but also as an obligation for private sector investment and institutional partnerships
- strong government commitment towards equitable and inclusive development
- strong commitment at the highest levels of Government to poverty reduction, and increased annual budgetary allocations to poverty programs
- institutional accountability
|
| Challenges |
- targeting of the core poor in areas with a degraded environment
- growing human (non-income) poverty due to cost recovery policies in health and education sectors
- rising urban poverty in conjunction with enterprise reform
- social security reform
- rural migration due to the lack of rural income opportunities for the people living around the poverty line
- the inequality between the western and eastern region of the country and between rural and urban areas;
- poverty issues related to minority groups and women
- need for more appropriate decentralization and improved participatory approaches in poverty reduction programs
|
| Constraints |
- budget constraints that limit the reach of poverty assistance particularly in poor counties
- institutional capacity and human resource constraints limit effectiveness of poverty assistance
- the previous poverty program targeting missed half of the rural poor
- growing urban poverty and the lack of a national structure to address it
- the lack of methodology for defining and addressing non-income poverty
- uneven coverage of, and access to, health services for the rural poor
- low enrollment of the rural poor at the secondary and post secondary levels and the weak linkage between education and the demands of the market place
|
| Description | Target | PRC 2000 | PRC 2005 |
|---|
| number of poor assisted with priority to minority areas in inland provinces, and border areas (millions of poor) | 30 million poor assisted | 30 million | 0 |
| rural per capita income | 5% increase per year | Y2,253 | Y2,880 |
| urban per capita income | 5% increase per year | Y6,280 | Y8,020 |
| new jobs for workers from agricultural sector | increase to 40 million | 35 million | 40 million |
| new jobs for urban workers | increase to 40 million | 35.6 million | 40 million |
| urban unemployment | reduce to 5% | 3.1% | 5% |
| gross junior high school enrollment | increase to 90% | 85% | greater than 90% |
| gross high school enrollment | increase to 60% | 44% | 60% |
| urban per capita housing to 22 square meters up from 20 square meters in 2000 | increase by 10% | 20 m2 | 22 m2 |
| discharge of total pollutants | reduce to 10 percent below 2000 levels | 20.4 billion tons | reduce to 10 percent below 2000 levels |
| land treated for soil erosion | 25 million ha treated | NA | 25 million ha treated |
| grasslands treated to prevent desertification | 16.5 million ha treated | NA | 16.5 million hatreated |
| Main Focus of Strategy |
Strategy |
|---|
| Rural |
- develop industries for processing, storing, and transporting agricultural products
- foster development-oriented poverty reduction, especially in the western, remote, and minority areas
- increase Government grants and credits for poverty reduction
|
| Urban |
- develop small towns and cities to increase off-farm income opportunities for the rural poor
- strengthen urban infrastructure and reduce urban pollution
|
| Rural and Urban |
- deepen relations between wealthier and poorer areas under East-West cooperation
- increase microcredit programs for the poor
|
| Infrastructure |
- construct infrastructure, particularly in the poor western region
|
| Social Development |
- increase standards of living for the urban and rural poor in terms of housing, education, health, environment, and land degradation
- establish a sound social security system (including support to those with medical, unemployment, pension, old-age, and disability needs) to combat urban poverty
|
| Employment and Training |
- develop labor-intensive industries, especially in the service sector, to create job opportunities
- offer incentives for people to start their own businesses
- expand job training and skills retraining to help people adapt better to a market-oriented employment system
|
| Nongovernment Role |
- expand the role of NGOs in delivering programs and services to the poor
- enhance cooperation with international organizations for poverty reduction planning and program implementation
|
| Description | Target | PRC 1990 | PRC 2000 | Achievement to date |
|---|
| 1990-2005 |
|---|
| gender disparity in primary and secondary education (% disparity in favor of boys) | 0% disparity | 8.3% disparity | 6.1% disparity | down 26% |
| a current national strategy for sustainable development, in the process of implementation, in every country by 2005, so as to ensure that current trends in the loss of environmental resources are effectively reversed at both global and national levels | Strategy in place by 2005 | | Agenda 21 action plan released in 1994 | achieved |
| 1990-2015 |
|---|
| proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries | 50%reduction | 9.5 | 3 | down 68% |
| proportion of malnourished children (%) | 50%reduction | 17.4 | 9 | down 48% |
| children enrolled in primary education in all countries (%) | 100% | 97.4% | 100% | achieved |
| death rates for infants and children under the age of five years in each developing country (per 1000 live births) | 67% reduction | 47 | 37 | down 21% |
| rate of maternal mortality (per 100,000 live births) | 75% reduction | 89.2 | 55 | down 38% |
| access is available through the primary health-care system to reproductive health services for all individuals of appropriate ages (% of births attended by skilled health staff) | 100% access | NA | 85 (1995) | TBD |
| the spread of HIV/AIDS should have begun to be reversed (% annual increase in cases/number of cases in thousands) | Reversal of HIV-AIDS trend | NA | 30%/600 | TBD |
| the proportion of the population without access to an improved water source (%) | at least 50% reduction | 29 | 25 | down 14% |
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