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The Rural Population of Absolute Poverty in the Whole Country at the End of 2003 Was 29 Million |
| May 13,
2004 |
According to the monitoring survey by National Bureau of Statistics for the poverty condition of the countryside of the whole country, the whole country's rural population of absolute poverty at the end of 2003 was 29 million, increasing by 0.8 million from the previous year, with a poverty occurrence rate of 3.1%. The rural low-income population that has solved the basic life problem but still cannot live steadily was 56.17 million, with a decrease of 2.08 million over the previous year, and the low-income population accounted for 6% of the rural population.
I. The population of absolute poverty increased by 0.8 million According to the price indices of living consumption of rural population in 2003, the absolute poverty standard in the countryside in 2003, has been adjusted from the per capita net income 627 Yuan of the previous year to 637 Yuan. According to this standard, our country's rural population of absolute poverty at the end of 2003 was 29 million, increasing by 0.8 million from the previous year, with a poverty occurrence rate of 3.1%, rising by 0.1% over the previous year. The leading cause of the rising of the population of absolute poverty was that some regions suffered a severe natural disaster, so the farmers' income increased very slowly and even dropped. The four provinces, Anhui, Henan, Heilongjiang and Shaanxi, suffered a serious natural calamity, thus, the farmers' net income in Anhui and Henan dropped by 1.2% and 0.4% respectively from the previous year, and the net income of the farmers in Heilongjiang and Shaanxi rose by 3.3% and 2.2% respectively, 1% and 2.1 % lower than the average level of the whole country respectively. The population of absolute poverty in the four provinces increased by 0.66 million, 0.53 million, 0.43 million and 0.37 million respectively, and total population of absolute poverty in the four provinces increased by nearly 2 million. Besides, in some local areas in Hunan, Guangxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Jiangxi and so on, natural disasters such as drought also occurred, so the poverty-stricken population there increased a little. Among others, the increase in Hunan was 0.16 million, the increase in Guangxi was 0.18 million, that in Liaoning was 0.09 million, that in Jilin was 0.06, and that in Jiangxi was 0.08 million. In Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu and Xinjiang, the decrease of the population of absolute poverty exceeded 0.1 million, specific figures being as follows: The decrease in Hebei was 0.29 million, that in Shanxi was 0.26 million, that in Inner Mongolia was 0.16 million, that in Sichuan was 0.11 million, that in Guizhou was 0.16 million, that in Yunnan was 0.29 million, that in Gansu was 0.12 million and that in Xinjiang was 0.11 million.
II. The low-income population increased by 2.08 million According to the price indices of living consumption of rural population in 2003, the standard of low-income population in 2003, has been adjusted from the per capita net income 869 Yuan of the previous year to 882 Yuan. By this standard, the low-income population of the whole country at the end of 2003 was 56.17 million, with a decrease of 2.08 million over the previous year, and the low-income population accounted for 6% of the rural population, dropping by 0.2 % from the previous year. The leading cause of the drop of low-income population was the recovery of farm product price. The low-income peasants chiefly live on agricultural income, so the recovery of farm product price benefits them more. For example, in Xinjiang, owing to the great rise of cotton price, the farmers' income rose by 12.8%, so the low-income population in the same year decreased by 1.03 million, decreasing by nearly a half. In terms of province, the low-income population decreased in 21 provinces, such as Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. There were 14 provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) with a rate of decrease exceeding 10%, and the specific figures are: The decrease in Hebei was 26.3%, that in Shanxi was 13.8%, that in Liaoning was 14.2%, that in Jilin was 32.6%, that in Shanghai was 100%, that in Jiangsu was 43.5%, that in Jiangxi was 16%, that in Shandong was 16.2%, that in Hubei was 18.9%, that in Hainan was 26.3%, that in Chongqing was 17.9%, that in Sichuan was 25.6%, that in Tibet was 12.9%, and that in Xinjiang was 46.1%. In Anhui and Henan, the low-income population rose greatly, increasing by 1.32 million and 2.37l million respectively, so the low-income population in both provinces had an increase by more than a half.
III. The population of absolute poverty still mostly concentrated in the western regions and the main grain producing provinces The total population of absolute poverty in the 12 western provinces was 16.98 million, with a decrease of 0.44 million over the previous year, accounting for 58.6% of the whole country's rural population of absolute poverty, dropping by 3.2 % over the previous year; In the main grain producing provinces, the population of absolute poverty was 13.83 million, with an increase of 1.33 million from the last year, accounting for 47.7% of the whole country's rural population of absolute poverty, which was 3.4 % than that of the previous year. The chief reason for that was the great increase of the poverty-stricken population in Anhui and Henan.
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