Xi says China achieves historic progress in women's development

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Monday said that China has integrated women's development into its efforts to advance Chinese modernization and has achieved historic progress in the cause.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, Xi said that China had secured victory in the most extensive anti-poverty campaign in human history and led its 690 million women in marching together into a moderately prosperous society, achieving the poverty reduction goal outlined in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule.

China also ranks among the top in upper-middle-income countries globally with regard to core indicators of maternal and child health, Xi said, adding that the maternal mortality rate in the country has dropped by nearly 80 percent since 1995.