China has made tremendous progress in reducing poverty since the 1980s. However, challenges remain as economic growth has slowed and income inequality has risen. China's new strategy of "precision poverty alleviation" targets poverty at the household level, identifying over 40 million poor households. Key aspects of the strategy include relocating households, developing rural industries, strengthening education and healthcare, and integrating poverty funds at the local level. If successful, the strategy aims to eliminate extreme rural poverty by 2020 through accurately targeting assistance to individual households in need.

1. Accurate Household Targeting:
China’s New Anti-Poverty Strategy
SANGUI WANG
CHINA ANTI-POVERTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, RENMIN UNIVERSITY
OF CHINA

2. I. Progress in poverty alleviation after the
reform
China achieved remarkable progress in poverty reduction since early
1980s
◦ According to the World Bank’s poverty line of US$1.9 a day, China cut
the number of poor people by 8.6 million in the past 30 years, from 884
million in 1981 to 25 million in 2013 and with an annual poverty
reduction ate of 11.8%
◦ China was the first country to complete the MDG goal of poverty reduction.
By 2002, it had reduced the percentage of the poor in rural areas to 30
percent, which was 60 percent in 1990. The figure was further lowered to 4.2
percent in 2014
◦ China’s contribution to reducing the rate of global poverty exceeded 70
percent

3. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
China’s poverty reduction, 1981-2013
Data source: World Bank Development Indicator

4. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
◦ China’s official estimations show similar trends
◦ measured at the 1978 poverty line, rural poor population in China decreased
from 250 million in 1978 to 15 million in 2007 with an annual reduction rate
of 9.2 %
◦ Total poor population reduced from 94 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2010
measured at NBS 2008 poverty line and the annual reduction rate was 11.7%
◦ Measured at NBS 2010 poverty line, total poor population decreased from
166 million in 2010 to 43 million in 2006 and the annual reduction rate was
20%

5. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
China’s rural poverty reduction, 1978-2016
Data source: National Bureau of Statistics of China

6. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
Factors contributed to large scale of poverty reduction
◦ Fast economic growth, esp. agricultural growth
◦ Targeted poverty alleviation effort has helped narrow the gap between
different regions and accelerate economic and social development of poverty-
stricken areas
◦ Establishment of social security system in rural areas since 2007
◦ Inclusive rural policies have benefited vast sections of the impoverished in
rural areas, e.g. “grain for green” campaign, agricultural tax reform, nine-year
free compulsory education, etc.
◦ Equal land distribution

7. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
Major poverty alleviation programs
Time of
implementation
Targets
Voluntary resettlement
Food for work (public work)
Subsidized loans
Budgetary development funds
Poverty alleviation through technological
advancement
Poverty alleviation through social efforts
Compulsory education projects in poor regions
Microcredit
Integrated Village development plan
Promoting labor migration through training
Agribusiness
“Two Basic Education Plans” in western China
Village banking
Minimum living standard program
Regional development
Accurately targeting the poor
1983
1985
1986
1986
1986
1986
1995
1996
2001
2004
2004
2004
2006
2007
2011
2013
Poor counties
Poor counties
Poor regions
Poor counties
Poor regions
Poor regions
Western China
Poor regions
Poor villages
Poor counties
Poor regions
Poor regions
Poor villages
Poor households
14 Designated poor regions
Poor households

8. I. Progress in Poverty Alleviation after the
reform
Year Poorest
20% of
pop. in
poor
counties
Poor
village
Poor
county
Rural
China
Income
ratio of
poor pop.
to rural
areas
Income
ratio of
poor
villages
to rural
areas
Income
ratio of
poor
counties to
rural areas
2002 519 1196 1305 2476 21 48 53
2003 494 1305 1384 2581 19 51 54
2004 533 1398 1489 2758 19 51 54
2005 597 1501 1585 2991 20 50 53
2006 665 1643 1746 3248 20 51 54
2007 696 1860 1957 3557 20 52 55
2008 813 2005 2106 3841 21 52 55
2009 875 2300 4170 21 55
Growth
rate
(02-08)
7.77 8.99 8.3 7.59
Income growth of the poor and poor regions
Data source: National Bureau of Statistics of China

9. II. Challenges in Rural Poverty Reduction
Slowdown of economic growth, from 10% to 6.7%
Increasing of income inequality, Gini index from 0.288 to 0.469
The poor dose not benefit equally from poverty alleviation programs
targeted at poor regions

10. II. Challenges in Rural Poverty Reduction
Year Lowest
quintile
Second
quintile
Third
quintile
Forth
quintile
Highest
quintile
All
2002 519 903 1175 1523 2406 1305
2003 494 920 1258 1698 2885 1384
2004 533 987 1358 1840 3150 1489
2005 597 1077 1461 1935 3222 1585
2006 665 1163 1582 2136 3665 1746
2007 696 1293 1775 2393 4150 1957
2008 813 1421 1930 2596 4374 2106
2009 875 1533 2096 2834 4843 2300
2010 940 1714 2343 3182 5411 2557
Growth
rate(02-10)
7.7 8.33 9.01 9.65 10.66 8.77
Income growth of different quintile in designated poor counties
Data source: National Bureau of Statistics of China

11. II. Challenges in Rural Poverty Reduction
Park and Wang, 2010
Effect of village investment program on household income p.c.,
consumption p.c.(village nearest neighbor matching estimates)

12. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
In November 2013, President Xi Jinping first put forward the strategy of
“precision poverty alleviation” during his visit to western Hunan, and the
strategy has become a significant part of China’s fight against poverty.
Precision poverty alleviation targets every poor household and individual,
instead of promoting regional development of poverty-stricken areas
Precision poverty alleviation includes accurate identification, assistance,
management, and assessment.
The goal is to eradicate extreme poverty under $2.3 dollar a day by 2020

13. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
China has identified 29.48 million poor households with a total
population of 89.62 million in 2013. This figure dropped to 43.33
million by the end of 2016.
Moreover, the country has registered all the poor households and
population and details about the families, available resources,
income sources, and reasons of poverty in the national poverty
alleviation information system.
These identified and recorded poor households are the main targets
of all types of poverty alleviation programs.

14. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
The government has taken a series of measures and launched
different types of programs to push forward precision poverty
alleviation
◦ Promotion of income-generation activities, esp. cooperative agricultural
production and value chain development, as well as rural tourism
development that target the poor
◦ Asset building for the poor
◦ Relocating 10 million of the poor in remote areas, in harsh natural conditions,
to comparatively more hospitable natural villages or small towns with a view
to improving the environment and conditions for their development
◦ The governments and state-owned policy banks have mobilized RMB 600 billion yuan for
the relocation in the 13th-Five-Year-Plan period

15. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
◦ Helping a batch of poor households reduce poverty through ecological
compensation policies
◦ Subsidies for those who returned their farmlands to forests or pastures to grassland
◦ Inter-regional ecological compensation to subsidize households in areas that provide
ecosystem function
◦ 280 thousand poor people were hired as forest rangers with an annual salary of 10,000
yuan last year
◦ Helping poor households reduce poverty through strengthening education
◦ Developing preschool education in poverty-stricken areas
◦ Providing free high school or occupational school education and living allowances for
students from identified poor families
◦ This will not only reduce the education expenditure of poor households, but also help end
inter-generational transmission of poverty

16. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
◦ Helping poor households through social security measures
◦ Expanding the coverage and increasing subsidies of the minimum living allowances
◦ Extending and reforming rural cooperative medical care system
◦ Providing severe-disease medical insurance and assistance
◦ Assisting poor households with chronic diseases
◦ Pension insurance for poor households

17. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
Clear division of duties and improvement of governance
◦ Central government is responsible for overall planning, province-level governments for
coordination, and county-level governments for implementation
◦ Party secretaries and governors of all poor counties have to remain in their duty till the fulfillment of the task for
poverty reduction in their counties
◦ To strengthen community-level poverty alleviation capacity, governments at various levels
have dispatched officials to act as first secretary and poverty relief team leaders in 128,000
poverty-stricken villages
◦ Establishing independent third-party poverty reduction assessment mechanism
◦ Academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and ordinary citizens are also
encouraged to participate in poverty relief effort by various means

18. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
Decentralization of fund management
◦ More than 20 funds for poverty reduction and rural development from
various sources have been integrated at the county level
◦ County governments are responsible for implementing poverty
reduction programs and are entitled to distribute and manage the
integrated funds according to the demands of poor households.
◦ The central and provincial governments are mainly responsible for
supervision, inspection, assessment and evaluation of the efficiency and
effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs to prevent misuse of the
funds.

19. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
Great progress has been achieved and poverty reduction has been
tremendous since 2010
◦ Measured at the PRC’s new poverty line of Y2,300 at 2010 constant
price, the rural poor population has been reduced from 166 million in
2010 to 43 million in 2016
◦ The annual poverty reduction rate is 20% and accelerating over time

20. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
Rural poverty reduction rate in recent years, %
Data source: National Bureau of Statistics of China

21. III. Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy
through Household Targeting
Challenges
◦ High administrative cost
◦ Coordination difficulty
◦ Over investment
◦ Negative effects on the incentive of the poor
◦ Hard to duplicate in other developing counties

22. Thank you!