GUIYANG, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved the feat of removing all remaining counties from the country's poverty list.
The last nine impoverished counties, all in southwest China's Guizhou Province, have eliminated absolute poverty, the provincial government announced on Monday. This means that all 832 registered poor counties in China have shaken off poverty.
An assessment conducted by third-party agencies earlier this month showed that the overall incidence of poverty in the nine counties in Guizhou had been reduced to zero percent, and the satisfaction rate among locals was over 99 percent, said Li Jian, director of the provincial poverty alleviation and development office, at a press briefing.
The average annual net income of impoverished people in these nine counties has risen to 11,487 yuan (about 1,740 U.S. dollars), well above the 4,000-yuan national poverty line set this year, Li said.
China has vowed to eradicate absolute poverty by the end of 2020. At the end of 2019, 52 counties in the northwest, southwest and south of the country remained on the poverty list.
Earlier this month, all poor counties in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as well as the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Gansu were lifted out of poverty.
Guizhou, which used to be a provincial-level region with the biggest population of poor people, has lifted more than 9 million people out of poverty since 2012.
"Delisting all poverty-stricken counties indicates China has resolved the millennia-old issue of extreme poverty," said Gao Gang, a researcher with the Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences.
In the new development stage, more rural vitalization efforts should be made to consolidate poverty reduction achievements, said Gao.
Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County is one of the nine counties recently removed from the poverty list. In late October, Chen Maofu, a resident in Bianjiang Village in Yanhe, signed his name on a document certifying that his family had been lifted out of poverty.
"My two sons now work in Zhejiang Province, and are much better off than before," said Chen, noting that each of his five family members has an annual net income of over 10,000 yuan.
The standard of living of residents in Bianjiang stands in stark contrast to that in 2014, when there were 699 registered poor people.
"Poor transportation was the main reason that caused poverty in Bianjiang. The only way out of the village was a narrow footpath near the cliff of a mountain," Chen said.
As China intensified its efforts on poverty reduction over the past years, more roads were built linking the village with the outside world. Even the footpath leading to Chen's house was paved.
As a result of improved transportation, the fishing, chicken-raising and chrysanthemum industries began to prosper in the village, providing locals with increasing income.
With the elimination of absolute poverty this year, China will achieve the poverty reduction target of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.
Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening up, more than 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has spoken highly of China's success in poverty reduction, calling the achievements "very strong." Enditem
（译文）
清零！中国所有贫困县脱贫
新华社贵阳11月23日电 中国剩余未摘帽贫困县已全部脱贫出列，取得历史性壮举。
贵州省政府周一宣布，最后9个贫困县已摘帽。这意味着中国832个贫困县“清零”。
贵州省扶贫办主任李建在新闻发布会上说，第三方机构本月早些时候的评估显示，贵州9个县的贫困发生率已降到零，贫困群众对脱贫的认可度超过99%。
李建说，这9个县贫困人口的年平均净收入已上升到11487元（约合1,740美元），远高于今年4000元的国家贫困线。
中国承诺在2020年底前消除绝对贫困。截至2019年底，中国西北、西南和南部的52个县仍在贫困县名单上。
本月早些时候，新疆维吾尔自治区、广西壮族自治区、宁夏回族自治区和云南、四川、甘肃等地的贫困县全部脱贫。
贵州曾是贫困人口最多的省，自2012年以来，已经有900多万人摆脱了贫困。
贵州省社会科学院研究员高刚说:“所有贫困县出列，表明中国已经解决了几千年来的极端贫困问题。”他说，在新的发展阶段，要加大农村振兴力度，巩固减贫成果。
沿河土家族自治县是9个贫困县之一。10月下旬，延河县边疆村居民陈茂富在一份文件上签名，这表明他的家庭已经摆脱了贫困。
“我的两个儿子现在在浙江打工，生活比以前宽裕多了。”陈茂富说。如今，他的五口之家每年人均有超过1万元的净收入。
边疆村居民的生活水平比2014年大幅度提高。该村当时有699人属于贫困人口。
“交通不便是边疆村贫困的主要原因。唯一出村的路是悬崖边的一条羊肠小道。”陈茂富说。
中国在过去几年里加大减贫力度，边疆村修建了多条公路把村庄与外界连接起来。通往陈家的小路都铺上了水泥。
得益于交通的改善，村里的渔业、养鸡和菊花种植等产业开始繁荣起来，给当地人带来了越来越多的收入。
随着今年绝对贫困的消除，中国将提前10年实现联合国2030年可持续发展议程减贫目标。
改革开放40多年来，中国7亿多贫困人口脱贫，对全球减贫贡献超过70%。
联合国秘书长古特雷斯高度评价中国在减贫方面取得的成就，称其“十分重大”。（完）
