Contribution to global fight against poverty: China Daily editorial

Thursday is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which was introduced to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide. As countries reflect on what has been achieved and what needs to be done, China has enough reason to be proud of what it has contributed to the global efforts in this regard.

Compared with 2012 when China had a population of 98.99 million living in poverty, the figure was 16.6 million by the end of 2018. From the year 1978 when the reform and opening-up policy was launched, China has enabled 770 million rural villagers to cast off poverty in the past four decades.

In accordance with the United Nations' poverty line of $1.9 per person per day, China's contribution to the global poverty eradication efforts is more than 70 percent. China is also the first country to have fulfilled the UN's poverty eradication goal ahead of schedule.

By the end of 2020, China will realize its own goal of lifting all of its population out of poverty under its current poverty standard of 2,300 yuan ($324) per person a year.

In reality, by the year 2018, rural villagers in poverty-stricken areas had an annual disposable income of 10,371 yuan, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national average increase for rural areas.

Every 100 rural households have 257 mobile phones, 26.9 computers, 22.3 cars, 65.2 air conditioners, 68.7 water heaters and 17.7 microwave ovens, according to statistics from the National Statistics Bureau.

And in 2018 alone, 135 million rural students had received aid of different kinds for their education at different levels.

China has always considered being able to make a decent living a fundamental human right. All the rhetoric about other human rights is meaningless when people do not have the basic necessities of life.

That explains why the country has mobilized all possible resources to help rural villagers shake off poverty.

Almost all State-owned enterprises have established links with specific poverty-stricken counties to extend as much help as they can. They send staff to guide local poverty alleviation work. Governments at all levels also send officials to villages to help villagers to tap their own potential and make the best use of local resources to increase their incomes.

What China has achieved in its poverty alleviation efforts sets a good example for the entire world, other developing countries in particular. This is also its contribution to the global fight against poverty.