From Chinese Press

Govt needs to help the poor

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-29 08:40

According to a United States Census Bureau report, issued on Sept 16, the number of US nationals living in poverty increased to 43.6 million, or 14.3 percent of the total population, last year compared to 13.2 percent in 2008. The report, in a way, shows China has fewer poor people than the US. But is it true? This is the question asked by article in Yangtze Daily. Excerpts:

It was revealed at the Poverty Alleviation Conference of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties on July 17 that China had reduced the number of people living in poverty from 250 million in 1978 to 35.97 million last year, and their number is expected to fall to zero by the end of 2020. It seems that the US has more poor people than China today and their number is increasing.

But is it true? Such comparisons are faulty because the yardsticks of measuring poverty in the two countries are very different. Different countries have different yardsticks to measure poverty because of the differences in their income levels and living standards. The 43.6 million poor US nationals are people whose income is below $22,025 a year, which, in fact, would be a handsome salary in China.

Two poverty lines are accepted worldwide: one is a daily income of $2 applied to well-off societies and the other is $1.25, which is also called absolute poverty line applicable to many developing countries. China has adopted the latter.

Governments across the world provide help in cash or kind to people living below the poverty line. But if that line is very low, it will exclude part (or even a large part) of poor people who too need state help.

What the Chinese government needs to do is to make more people, especially the poverty-stricken, enjoy the fruits of reform and development.

(China Daily 09/29/2010 page9)