Review: 40 counties rise out of poverty

Forty counties in the western and central regions of China announced that they had shaken off poverty after a third-party review, a senior official said.

It's a "periodic achievement" in poverty alleviation work, Xia Gengsheng, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at a news conference in Beijing last week.

Scattered through 11 provincial areas, the 40 counties are said to have all met the criteria for shaking off poverty - meaning the county's poorest population accounts for less than 2 percent of the total population if the county is located in central China, and less than 3 percent in western parts of the country.