China is Spending $158 Billion to Get 3.4 Million People Out of Poverty By 2020

February 15, 2017

China in 2017 is set to relocate 3.4 million people living in poverty to less disadvantaged places in an effort to eliminate extreme poverty in the country by 2020, President Xi Jinping said.

The plan was announced in 2016, when 2.49 million people from high-poverty communities were moved to areas with better school and hospitals, access to roads, water or power, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

China was able to eliminate urban poverty through development and funds granted by the government, according to Shanghaiist.

In total, the relocation will reportedly cost around $158 billion.

In addition to fiscal support from the central government, other channels will also be used to finance the move, including local government debts and long-term, low-cost loans from cash advance apps, reported the Deccan Herald.

But the fast economic growth of the country has forced millions to leave their home villages to find work in major cities.

President Jinping has promised to leave nobody behind on the road to build a “moderately prosperous society.”

The World Bank has praised China for getting nearly 800 million people out of poverty since the “Reform and Opening Up” in 1978.

However, according to a 2016 Peking University report, China has reached a dangerous point of income inequality, with the top 1% of the country now owning one third of Chinese wealth.

As of 2016, there were about 70 million people living below the poverty line in China, according to local media.

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