Report delves into China's poverty reduction work

A family takes photos against a backdrop of blooming sunflowers at the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing, on July 4, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] 

China's poverty reduction work has focused on two main areas: broad-based economic transformation, and targeted support for disadvantaged areas and households, a new report has said.

Broad-based economic transformation has opened up new opportunities for poorer people and raised average incomes, while targeted support aimed at alleviating persistent poverty was initially provided to disadvantaged areas and later to individual households, the report said.

The research, jointly released by the Ministry of Finance, Development Research Center of the State Council and World Bank on Thursday said China's mode of poverty alleviation has provided a number of experiences and references for other countries. These include a focus on education, an outward orientation, sustained public investments in infrastructure, and structural policies supportive of competition, the report noted.

The research was based on a joint study named Four Decades of Poverty Reduction in China: Drivers, Insights for the World, and the Way Ahead.

Taking into account future structural shifts in China's growth model, such as rebalancing toward consumption and high-value services, and transitioning toward carbon-neutrality, the report highlights the need to close remaining gaps in the quality of education, between rural and urban areas, and on providing better social protection to migrant workers.

"To sustain poverty reduction gains, China will focus more on achieving endogenous development in areas that have been lifted out of poverty and introduce vigorous measures to support rural revitalization," said Ma Jiantang, secretary of the Development Research Center's Party leadership group. "Our goal is to achieve common prosperity and high-quality development, including through the rural revitalization strategy, with a focus in five key areas: industry development, human capital, culture, ecological environment, and local governance."