Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

In the UN, we love using and citing statistics and big numbers. There is no doubt that numbers tell us important facts, illustrate trends and tell us about size and scale. But sometimes they fail to capture the human dimension and drama of the story we are trying to tell.

In China, we know that the development indicators are impressive. The statistics clearly prove China's enormous success in reaching key development targets under the Millennium Development Goals. These include a dramatic reduction in the numbers of children dying before their fifth birthday, universal access to primary school, and a dramatic drop in poverty.

Between 1990 and 2011, more than 439 million people in China were lifted out of poverty, while the net enrolment rate of boys and girls of primary school age was kept above 99 percent. The mortality rate for children younger than five years went from 61 per 1,000 live births in 1991 to 12 in 2013.

These accomplishments are no easy task for any country, especially one the size of China, which is home to almost 15 percent of the world's children, so geographically big and ethnically diverse.

From a distance, it is hard not to be impressed. Yet now having lived in China for just over two years, it is not just the numbers that startle but the daily encounters with young individuals that for me best capture the country's enormous success as well.

Take my friend, Jushan, benefiting from these public and long-term investments in education and healthcare. She has just graduated from university and is now starting a job in science and technology. In just two generations, from a working class family, she is the first university graduate and heading for a professional career and upward mobility.

As more statistics released last week in UNICEF's State of the World's Children report indicate, social investments in quality services such as vaccination, education, access to safe water and good nutrition can have a huge economic return. Jushan and many of graduate students like her have benefited from those investments, ultimately proving we can break the inter-generational cycle of poverty that often perpetuates disadvantage and inequity.

China's success shows how the right mix of political leadership, practical commitment and concrete solutions to reduce poverty and improve human development can succeed. They are already being shared globally to help other developing countries learn how they can leapfrog progress.

While we have stories of success, we cannot forget the stories of lives not yet transformed. In China and around the world, inequity is growing and the brunt of its impact is denying the most vulnerable children the opportunity to reach their full potential.

During a recent trip to rural Shanxi Province, I met 8-year-old girl Fengyuan. Her father is a migrant worker and she lives with her disabled grandparents. Her story demonstrates we cannot be complacent. She is one of millions of children who still do not have a fair opportunity to grow up free of poverty, and is deprived of the access to investments that can help her reach her potential. 

And it is her story and those of children like her, that need to drive the agenda at the upcoming first anniversary of the agreement of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development adopted last year by world leaders at the UN. We need to put inequity for those who are currently most disadvantaged, especially children, at the center stage in the action plans developed.

China will be among one of the first countries to present its plan that seeks to deliver on these global commitments to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. And while government commitments are critical, it is China's return on its last decades of social investment that makes me so optimistic.

This younger generation of Chinese with their skills, dynamism and growing global outlook, I believe, will ultimately transform China and also make a real difference in the world by turning global goals from plans into action. With their ideas, passion and human capacity, we can make sure the statistics of disadvantage, inequity and poverty can be transformed into individual stories of hope and success, and ultimately help deliver a fairer world for all of our children. 

The author is the Chief of Communications and Partnership at UNICEF China. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion.