China’s Four Decades of Journey: Lifting 770 Million People Out of Poverty (2024)

FAQs

China’s Four Decades of Journey: Lifting 770 Million People Out of Poverty? ›

After four decades of policy implementations and effective governance, China declared itself successful in lifting 770 million of its citizens out of poverty.

Throughout human history, no other country has ever lifted as many people out of extreme poverty within such a short period of time. In total, China lifted nearly 100 million people out of extreme poverty, which is nearly one-third of the US population.

On average, there were 18.7 million fewer poor people in China since 1978 (World Bank Group, 2022:4). Thus, poverty eradication efforts in the decades since 1978 have been made possible by massive economic growth, and growing China's industry and economy was seen as the best way to end poverty.

Education is a key to breaking the poverty cycle and, as such, China devoted enormous resources within the TPA to educational initiatives. Not only has China built new schools and better equipped existing ones, but it has also improved the quality of education in rural areas with a special focus on teachers.

Nationwide war on poverty was waged continuously. In 1994, the State Council initiated the Priority Poverty Alleviation Program. This action plan made specific targets and measures to meet the basic needs of 80 million people in poverty-stricken areas for 1994-2000.

After four decades of policy implementations and effective governance, China declared itself successful in lifting 770 million of its citizens out of poverty.

To a reasonable level of accuracy there's no one in China in the bottom 10% of the world's population by wealth. And yet there's some 10% of those global poor in North America, and another 20% or so in Europe. So, yes, it really is true that there're more poor people in America (and Europe) than there are in China.

Iceland stands at the top of countries with the lowest poverty rates with a poverty rate of 4.9% in 2021.

In 1978, China was one of the poorest countries in the world. The real per capita GDP in China was only one-fortieth of the U.S. level and one-tenth the Brazilian level. Since then, China's real per capita GDP has grown at an average rate exceeding 8 percent per year.

What is the average income in China? ›

The median salary in China is 26,800 Yuan (USD 3,855) per month. That means half of the population draws an average income less than the median salary. In contrast, the other half earns more than the median salary.

In the past three decades China improved the living conditions of its population dramatically and alleviated millions out of poverty. China achieved a tenfold increase in GDP since 1978, became the world's largest exporter in 2010 and is the second largest economy in the world after the U.S. (cf.

While China has implemented policies to limit inequality – such as raising the minimum wage and the minimum threshold for income taxes on multiple occasions, abolishing agricultural taxes, and improving public services and social protection in the countryside – Jain-Chandra thinks that inequality is likely to rise ...

China's poverty alleviation programme was customized for the rural and urban poor separately. Urban administration went for tailor-made policies to get quick results while rural programmes were mainly financed by central government.

The "Two Assurances and Three Guarantees", which refers to guarantees of adequate food and clothing, access to compulsory education, basic medical services, and safe housing for impoverished rural residents, have been realized. Education, healthcare, housing and drinking water supplies are much improved.

Over the last four decades, more than 800 million people escaped poverty. China's share in the world economy rose from 1.5 percent in 1978 to 15 percent today, and per capita income increased 25-fold from 300 dollars in 1978 to 7,300 dollars in 2017.

As of 2020, China has succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty, but not the poverty defined for upper middle-income countries which China belongs to. China still has around 13% of its population falling below this poverty line of $5.50 per day in 2020.

“China achieved its goal of poverty reduction in the new era as scheduled at the end of 2020”, said Yu Weiping, Vice Minister of Finance. “We have accomplished the arduous task of eliminating extreme poverty, and made significant contributions to global poverty reduction.

Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, GDP growth has averaged over 9 percent a year, and more than 800 million people have lifted themselves out of poverty. There have also been significant improvements in access to health, education, and other services over the same period.

The U.S. makes up 23.93% of the total global economy, says Investopedia. The World Bank Group lists China as the second richest country in the world as of 2021, possessing a GDP of $17.734 trillion along with a GDP per capita of $12,556.3. China makes up 18.45% of the total global economy.

Where does the US rank in poverty? ›

The US Census declared that in 2014 14.8% of the general population lived in poverty: As of 2010 about half of those living in poverty are non-Hispanic white (19.6 million). Non-Hispanic white children comprised 57% of all poor rural children.

There are 37.9 million Americans living in poverty, accounting for 11.6% of the total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Official Poverty Measure

The official poverty rate in 2021 was 11.6 percent, with 37.9 million people in poverty.

When ranking child income poverty rates across 34 OECD nations from lowest to highest, the United States, with one of the highest rates of child poverty, ranks 31st .

At the end of 2021, of the 98 countries for whom data was available, Pakistan ($27.4 billion of external debt to China), Angola (22.0 billion), Ethiopia (7.4 billion), Kenya (7.4 billion) and Sri Lanka (7.2 billion) held the biggest debts to China.

By the mid-nineteenth century China's population reached 450 million or more, more than three times the level in 1500. The inevitable results were land shortages, famine, and an increasingly impoverished rural population. Heavy taxes, inflation, and greedy local officials further worsened the farmer's situation.

By 1952, China's share of global GDP had fallen to 5.2%, and by 1978, it slid to 4.9%. The adoption of economic reforms by China in the late 1970s led to a surge in China's economic growth and helped restore China as a major global economic power.

The results show that poverty in the US is more serious than that in the UK. Although the overall income in the US is higher than that in the UK, the poor in the US, especially the ultra-poor, are poorer than those in the UK.

A Minimum Safety Net

Compared to other Western industrialized countries, the United States devotes far fewer resources to programs aimed at assisting the economically vulnerable. In fact, the U.S. allocates a smaller proportion of its GDP to social welfare programs than virtually any other industrialized country.

What is the poverty rate in the US compared to the world? ›

How many people live in poverty around the world? According to the World Bank, about 9.2% of the world, or 719 million people, live in extreme poverty, on less than $2.15 a day. In the United States, 11.6% of the population — 37.9 million people — lived in poverty as of 2021.

Minimum Wages in China remained unchanged at 2590 CNY/Month (362.47 USD/Month) in 2023. The maximum rate of minimum wage for employees was 2480 CNY/Month and minimum was 690 CNY/Month.

The exception to cheap groceries in China is dairy products. One gallon of milk costs $7.20 to $8.80 and a pound of local cheese costs $5.55 to $6.75.

How much is rent in China? Depends where you are but rent in a shared apartment can amount to 2,500 RMB to 3,500 RMB for a shared apartment in a Tier 1 city like Bejing or Shanghai. Additionally having your own studio can cost you around 4,000 RMB.

SHANGHAI, March 23 (Reuters) - More than 400 people lost their billionaire status last year, most from China, as global monetary tightening, COVID-19 disruptions and Beijing's crackdown on major tech companies hurt the super wealthy, a ranking of the world's wealthiest showed.

It is one of the world's fastest growing countries and is the tenth largest exporter. China is also a significant recipient of foreign aid and a major borrower on international capital markets.

In medicine, acupuncture was invented. Also, the Chinese discovered the circulatory system. In technology, they invented an iron plow, rudder for steering ships, the seismoscope for detecting earthquakes, a compass, and a wheelbarrow for hauling goods.

China's rapid economic development in the last four decades has benefited everyone in the country by eradicating absolute poverty, but it has to be admitted that the economic gains have largely benefited those in power. In other words, China has a rich state and relatively poor people.

The Gini coefficient, one of the most widely used metrics of inequality, shows that in 2019 the United States (0.481) and China (0.465) both still have highly unequal income distributions in absolute terms and relative to other countries.

Urban-biased policies

More specifically, research published in the Journal of Economic Modelling demonstrates that the Hukou system and absence of a fully functioning land market are two main drivers of rural-urban inequality.

Why did China decline poverty? ›

- The start of the Industrial Revolution ushered in a period of rapid economic development, eradicating widespread poverty in what is now known as the developed world. During the twentieth century, the global GDP per human quintupled. - The lack of economic freedoms today is limiting future economic growth.

For example, in the Western theory, China and India belong respectively to the second and third worlds, but in Mao's theory both China and India are part of the Third World which he defined as consisting of exploited nations.

The country remained relatively poor in this period, due to its backward infrastructure left by years of war as well as the inefficient planned economy and repeated political movements.

The golden rule of Confucianism is “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.” There is debate over if Confucianism is a religion. Confucianism is best understood as an ethical guide to life and living with strong character.

In January 2023, the government of Sichuan Province announced that it had abolished the three-child policy completely. Therefore, parents in Sichuan can now legally have as many children as they want. This was implemented to promote fertility in Sichuan.

China becomes one of the first countries to successfully implement provisional Universal Basic Income for "most" of its citizens. The UBI program is funded primarily through taxation of the portion of business revenue generated through industrial, commercial or agricultural automation.

The US poverty standard is 15 times higher than the Chinese counterpart. While in term of per capita GDP, the US is 10 times higher than the Chinese counterpart. Let's take a look at the food price. In the US, the price of pork is half that of the Chinese counterpart.

Economy. In United States, 15.1% live below the poverty line as of 2010. In China, however, that number is 0.6% as of 2019. United States has a GDP per capita of $60,200 as of 2020, while in China, the GDP per capita is $16,400 as of 2020.

Using the SPM, 46.0 million people were lifted out of poverty in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 14.5 million people. The number of people kept out of poverty by government assistance as measured by the SPM (45.4 million) in 2021 was not statistically different from 2020.

During the 1950s, all of China's individual household farms were collectivized into large communes. To support rapid industrialization, the central government undertook large-scale investments in physical and human capital during the 1960s and 1970s.

What caused China's rapid economic growth? ›

The adoption of economic reforms by China in the late 1970s led to a surge in China's economic growth and helped restore China as a major global economic power. Source: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Chinese Economic Performance in the Long Run, 960-2030, by Angus Maddison, 2007.

Driven by industrial production and manufacturing exports, China's GDP is actually now the largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalence. Despite this growth, China's economy remains strictly controlled by its government where there are accusations of corruption, unfair dealings, and falsified data.

WASHINGTON, DC — The United States has witnessed a historic decline in poverty in recent years. Poverty rates fell sharply during the decade following the end of the 2007–09 recession and preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting millions out of poverty.

The official poverty rate for children under 18 followed a similar narrative – decreasing by 0.7 percentage points to 15.3 percent in 2021. Conversely, there was an increase in poverty of 1.4 percentage points, from 8.9 percent to 10.3 percent, for Americans 65 years or older under the official rate.

The family's 2022 poverty threshold (below) is $35,801.

While the poverty rate for the population as a whole is 11.6% the rate varies greatly by race. Blacks have the highest poverty rate at 19.5% and Non-Hispanic whites have the lowest at 8.1%.

The U.S. has far and away the highest rates of poverty in the developed world. In addition, the extent of U.S. income and wealth inequality also tends to be extreme when compared to other industrialized countries.