China lifts 13.9 million people out of poverty each year

China lifted 13.91 million people out of poverty each year from 2012 to 2016, and the annual per capita income in impoverished rural areas has grown 10.7 percent every year, according to a report from the State Council Tuesday.

The report on poverty relief work was submitted for review at a five-day bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which opened Monday.

“The State Council has always put a lot of effort into poverty relief. The government work reports in the past four years all promised to lift at least 10 million out of poverty,” said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

As of the end of 2016, there were 43.35 million people in China living below the country’s poverty line of 2,300 yuan (344.30 U.S. dollars) of annual income (as constant with 2010 prices), accounting for about 3 percent of China’s population.

About 775,000 officials have been sent to impoverished areas for poverty relief work, said the report.

China has set 2020 as the target year to complete the building of a “moderately prosperous society,” which requires the eradication of poverty.

To achieve the target, China needs to bring more than 10 million people out of poverty every year, meaning nearly one million people per month or 20 people per minute.