Transitions in and out of poverty

Urban Poverty in Ever-growing Cities

Q: When we talk about poverty, it sometimes refers to rural poverty. What about the poverty in urban areas?

A: Unprecedented progress has been achieved in China's anti-poverty work when declaring the battle against extreme poverty last year. Actually, there is no absolute poverty in Beijing, Tianjin and some of China's east coast cities. However, some people in those areas might still live in relative poverty as of 2012.

Well, we will take actions to eradicate absolute poverty and regional poverty while influencing the poor population's transformation from absolute poverty to relative poverty.

In my mind, urbanization of cities and rural–urban migration will certainly shift the poverty burden onto urban growth as the tendency is growing stronger during these years. Coordination between rural and urban social development might be the right way to go about it, even though the gap remains large.

Q: Does the LGOPAD's poverty relief work cover social development of the impoverished people in urban areas?

A: Not yet. China still has a large number of poor rural populations but most of them work and live in urban areas. Currently, we have launched a number of pilot programs in addressing the issue. As for those people living in relative poverty, we are preparing to conduct research to settle the issue.

Q: Which of China's government branches are in charge of the problem of poor urban citizens?

A: It involves China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the Ministry of Education. I think that China has to integrate the rural and urban populations sooner or later in order to win the battle against poverty.