BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved its poverty alleviation goal, with all of the country's nearly 100 million rural residents living below the current poverty line shaking off poverty after eight years of arduous efforts.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has fulfilled its historic promise of eradicating absolute poverty in the largest developing country on the planet.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has organized and launched a tough anti-poverty drive that is the largest in scale and strongest in intensity, and benefits the biggest number of people in human history.
The country has sent millions of people to villages as special commissioners for poverty relief and invested fiscal funds totaling nearly 1.6 trillion yuan (248 billion U.S. dollars) into poverty alleviation. More than 1,800 people have lost their lives in the country's fight against poverty.
When calculated in accordance with China's current poverty line, the country has lifted 770 million rural residents out of poverty since the beginning of reform and opening-up over 40 years ago, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total based on the World Bank's international poverty line.
China has met the goal of ending poverty established in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.
The elimination of absolute poverty in China is thanks to the CPC's strong leadership and determination, the people-centered philosophy of development, the institutional strength which can bring together the resources necessary to accomplish great tasks, as well as a series of creative and significant ideas and measures such as targeted poverty reduction, domestic and overseas observers have said.
Eliminating absolute poverty is a key contribution to accomplishing the CPC's first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, has set a solid foundation for its new journey of fully building a modern socialist country, and has created a "China example" for poverty reduction.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service■
