I've been talking a lot about China lately, but there's some new data out that is so impressive that we need to talk about it. China has virtually eradicated urban poverty nationwide, a massive achievement considering where the country was only a couple of decades ago. The data hasn't been officially released yet, but it comes from the Chinese Household Income Project Series (CHIPS for short... researchers love creating odd names for things so that they can have catchy abbreviations) run by the University of Michigan.
What's happened?
Well, despite millions of Chinese people moving from rural areas to cities, the Chinese Government has done a pretty good job of providing a basic standard of living for everyone in its urban areas. It pays a subsidy to urban dwellers, bringing incomes up to the minimum level of 4,476 yuan (US$700 or £446). That's above the extreme poverty line, and generally enables people to eat, buy basic clothes, and transport themselves to work. By 2013, it was estimated that only 1.6% of people in China's cities were still below that line.
Zooming a bit further out helps us to see the scale of this achievement. Back in 1990, the average income level in China was just $200. By 2000 it was $1,000, and by 2010 it had reached $5,000. The poorest people in China's cities today are far better off than the average resident 25 years ago, and things are still trending upwards.
Beyond the cities
This is a tougher part of the country to make rapid improvements to, because China's cities are the financial and employment powerhouses of the nation. Many Chinese people outside of the large cities continue to farm in traditional ways, which limits how rapidly their standards of living can rise. The Government has introduced a rural pension to help with this, but the level of inequality across the country is quite high.
With 10% of Chinese people still living in poverty, it's going to be crucial that the benefits of China's economic progress flow outwards from the big cities, and reach rural areas, disadvantaged ethnic groups, women, and people with disabilities. But considering that China lifted more people out of poverty between 1990 and 2005 than the rest of the world combined, it's important and fair to acknowledge how many lives China's boom has changed for the better.