Nearly 48 million Chinese live below the domestic poverty line, accounting for 3.7 % of the total population. According to international standards, however, 135 million Chinese live below the general poverty line, or 10% of the population. China's poverty benchmark is a per capita annual income of 683 yuan (US$87), while the poverty line defined by the World Bank is income or consumption valued at not more than US$1 per day.

These figures are published in the Report of the Development of an Overall Well-off Society (2006), as highlighted in a Beijing Evening News story on October 27.

The report reveals there are 26 million needy people in China's countryside. Another 22 million living in cities live below minimum subsistence levels, or the poverty line. These 48 million people account for 3.7% of China's total population.

According to international standards, however, the impoverished are those whose personal daily expenses average below US$1. Based on these calculations, the World Bank estimates that about 135 million Chinese, or 10% of the population, live below the international poverty line, forming a key group that China should show concern for in its drive to build an overall well-off society.

(CRI November 1, 2006)