State Council Information Office

China has further consolidated the results of poverty elimination in 2022 - a key year which saw deepened integration between poverty reduction and rural revitalization strategy - "with a better foundation and more sustainable results," Liu Huanxin, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs and Director of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The comment was made after the central government issued the No.1 central document for 2023 on Monday, in which the world's second-largest economy vowed to comprehensively push forward with rural revitalization and maintain the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to impoverishment, among other highlights.

According to Liu, the consolidation of the results of poverty elimination - a foundation for carrying out rural revitalization - is manifested in three aspects, including no large-scale backsliding into poverty, which is helped by a monitoring and support mechanism, as well as a stable employment and rising income of rural labor forces that have been lifted out of poverty.

In 2022, a total of 32.78 million migrant workers enjoyed full employment, 2.59 million people above the annual target. The country's yearly per capita disposable income of farmers in areas just walking out of poverty grew 7.5 percent last year to 15,111 yuan, which is 1.2 percentage points higher than the national average for farmers. 

In line with the No 1 Central Document, Liu said that the Chinese government will continue the inputs to further consolidate the poverty-reduction results and improve the lives of people who have been lifted out of poverty. Also, the employment scale of farmers should be set at above 30 million this year. 

One of the measures is to further implement the monitoring and supporting mechanism in a more precise and targeted way, Liu said, while urging rural areas to develop new growth drivers and industries to create more employment opportunities for rural laborers.

In 2022, the annual per capita disposable income of farmers surpassed the milestone of 20,000 yuan ($2,935) for the first time to reach 20,133 yuan, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, Chinese officials said. 

Global Times