China plans to remove poverty by 2020

BEIJING: China will eradicate poverty completely by 2020 as it plans to lift nearly 70.17 million people living in the countryside above the poverty line, officials of the ruling Communist party said today.

Leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will gather from October 26 to 29 in Beijing for a key meeting to finalise the country's development plan for the next five years.

The fifth plenary session of the CPC Central Committee was scheduled at a meeting of its top officials, the Political Bureau, presided over by the CPC Central Committee's General Secretary and President of the country Xi Jinping.

The Plenum will deliberate on 13th five-year plan (2016-2020) for economic and social development.

Poverty alleviation will be a major task in China's development plan, an official said ahead of the 23rd International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Saturday, which also marked China's second National Poverty Relief Day.

"In the past 15 years, China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty, accounting for about 70 per cent of those brought out of poverty worldwide," said Hong Tianyun, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of China.

Despite this, China still has 70.17 million people in the countryside living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (USD 376) in annual income at the end of last year.

Hong said it will be a challenge for China to achieve its goal of lifting all the people out of poverty by 2020.