Can China Eliminate Its Poverty?

While many in the media have rightly concerned themselves with reporting China’s recent moves to end the one-child policy, there are other aspects of the recently-released 13th Five-Year Plan worthy of close attention. One noticeable inclusion is the ongoing pledge to end poverty in China. According to a communique release from the Central Committee of the CPC that outlines the as-yet published plan, China pledges to lift 12 million people out of poverty every year from 2016 to 2020. But who exactly constitutes China’s impoverished? The current standard to gauge the country’s poverty line is any who earn an annual income of 2,300 ($376) or less, the measure set in 2011 by the central government. As of the end of 2014, China had 70.2 million people living below the poverty line. In other words, these people can barely afford a Big Mac hamburger with their income per day. The goal of lifting 12 million people out of poverty each year, a number that exceeds the entire population of New York City (8.49 million in 2014), means that 1 million people will be uplifted each month, equivalent to the population of Dallas. Is the promise too good to be true? From 2011 to 2014, China lifted 43 million, 23 million, 16 million, and 12 million people respectively out of poverty each […]