China's poverty alleviation experience: global contribution to poverty eradication

A Chinese expert (right) instructs a farmer in Papua New Guinea to grow upland rice. [Photo/Zhu Li]

After eight years of dedicated efforts, China has historically eliminated absolute poverty. Following a five-year transition period, the country has successfully completed the task of consolidating and expanding its poverty alleviation achievements while advancing rural revitalization, firmly upholding the bottom line of preventing any large-scale relapse into poverty.

China's victory in the battle against poverty enabled the country to achieve the poverty reduction goals set under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), all of China's 832 counties that had shaken off poverty had cultivated two to three leading industries, generating a combined output value exceeding 1.7 trillion yuan ($250.77 billion).

Growth in per capita disposable income among rural residents in formerly impoverished counties has outpaced the national rural average for five consecutive years, making the foundations of poverty alleviation more secure and its achievements more sustainable.

The transformation of rural China has provided fresh insights into solving development challenges facing humanity.

In recent years, books including Up and Out of Poverty and Xi Jinping: Eradicating Poverty have been translated into multiple languages, reaching readers across the globe. China's fight against poverty has achieved extraordinary results: it has blazed a uniquely Chinese path to poverty reduction and formed a distinct set of anti-poverty theories rooted in its own real-world practices.

In Mbale, Uganda, a Luban Workshop was jointly built by Tianjin Polytechnic College and Uganda Technical College Elgon. Backed by the Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park, it has provided skills training to over 1,200 personnel for the park since 2020.

In Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia, smart vegetable greenhouses under an agricultural technology and poverty alleviation project backed by China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have helped local vegetable farmers bid farewell to weather-reliant farming. They now grow crops scientifically and enjoy steady yields.

African students studying at Jinhua University of Vocational Technology, east China's Zhejiang province receive hands-on training in operating automated vegetable seedling production lines. [Photo/Shi Bufa]

With tangible cooperation projects taking firm hold, China's experience in poverty reduction has continued to empower other developing nations, strengthening their resolve and ability to eliminate poverty.

Former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova once observed that if China could achieve this, other developing countries could do so as well, which is a key lesson China's poverty eradication campaign has offered the world.

China's experience demonstrates that with perseverance, determination and sustained effort, poverty can not only be overcome but also prevented from re-emerging.

Among China's poverty reduction concepts and practices, targeted poverty alleviation has become one of the most widely recognized experiences internationally.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that targeted poverty alleviation is the most effective way to help impoverished populations and deliver on the ambitious goals set under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adding that China's experience offers valuable reference for other developing countries.

"China's targeted poverty alleviation strategy, tailored to local conditions and individual circumstances, has brought tangible improvements to the lives of impoverished populations and offers valuable lessons for African countries seeking solutions to poverty," said Humphrey Moshi, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

The concept of targeted poverty alleviation has gained growing traction around the world.

Uzbekistan has actively drawn on China's experience: it set up dedicated government bodies for poverty relief and welfare monitoring, ramped up entrepreneurship training for low-income groups, introduced household-based assistance records, and launched training programs for poverty relief officials.

By the end of last year, Uzbekistan's poverty rate had fallen to 6 percent and is expected to decline further to 4.5 percent in 2026.

Thailand's Khon Kaen province has also studied China's targeted poverty alleviation experience and developed locally tailored paired assistance programs, shifting from simple transfer-based support toward capacity-building approaches and achieving more targeted poverty reduction outcomes.

A training session on the operation of agricultural drones is hosted in Jinxiu Yao autonomous county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/Gao Rujin]

A local official noted that China has not only helped the world understand the importance of targeted poverty alleviation and see that ending poverty is achievable, but has also provided the confidence and experience needed to tackle poverty.

Eradicating poverty is a shared goal for all countries. By promoting global cooperation through concrete actions, China contributes to building a fairer world of shared development, one where poverty becomes a thing of the past and better aspirations become reality.

China's poverty reduction experience continues to resonate globally. China and the United Nations Development Programme jointly launched the Global Partnership for Poverty Alleviation and Development, and established a global poverty reduction online knowledge sharing database, which now includes poverty reduction cases from more than 100 developing countries and promotes global sharing of experience.

Development-oriented assistance is also contributing to global poverty reduction efforts. Through South-South agricultural cooperation programs, foreign agricultural assistance projects and demonstration poverty reduction cooperation initiatives, China is helping more developing countries strengthen independent development capabilities and explore poverty reduction paths suited to their national conditions.

China's hybrid rice technology has been introduced to nearly 70 countries across five continents, while its Juncao technology has taken root in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Looking ahead, China will continue contributing to global poverty reduction. By strengthening exchanges and cooperation with countries around the world, China will work together with others to advance international poverty reduction and build a better world free from poverty and marked by shared prosperity.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of Qiushi Journal.