Source: Xinhua
12-08-2008 17:54
Special Report: 30 Years of ChangesROME -- China has made tremendous progress in poverty alleviation since the country adopted its policy of reform and opening-up in 1978, according to a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Fang Cheng, speaking in a recent interview with Xinhua at the headquarters of the FAO, said that in the past 30 years there has been a substantial reduction in the number of China's rural poor population.
The number of people living on $1 a day decreased from 490 million in 1979 to about 90 million in 2002 in China's rural areas, Fang said.
The country's poverty alleviation made giant strides especially in the period from 1978 to 1984, during which the population living in poverty decreased by about 300 million.
Therefore, it is fair to say that China has made the biggest contribution to the world's poverty reduction drive, said the FAO expert.
