Yunnan removes 15 counties from impoverished list

After going through a national evaluation, 15 counties in Yunnan were recognized as having met the standards of being removed from the impoverished list, the provincial poverty relief authority said on September 20.

The 15 Yunnan counties are Xundian Hui and Yi Autonomous County, Luoping County, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County, Ninger Hani and Yi Autonomous County, Yun County, Mouding County, Yao'an County, Shiping County, Menghai County, Xiangyun County, Binchuan County, Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County, Eryuan County, Heqing County, and the Mangshi county-level city. 

Involving assessments from third-party institutions, the evaluation from June to August this year was organized by the Leading Group Office on Poverty Alleviation and Development under the State Council. In 2017, the 15 Yunnan counties requested the central government to have their 'impoverished' label removed. 

Yunnan provincial poverty relief authority has completed the removal procedures for the counties and announced the result to the public on September 30. In the coming years, Yunnan aims to remove all its 88 impoverished counties from the  list.

In Chinese western regions like Yunnan, counties must have less than 3 percent of residents living in poverty to be removed from the list. And the national poverty line is defined as a per capita annual income of 2,300 yuan (348 U.S. dollars) at 2010 prices.

But removal from the list does not mean poverty relief efforts end. Instead, local poverty relief authorities will continue favorable policies, subsidies and financial support as well as supervision to ensure further development in the counties.

Reporting by Zhang Yin (Yunnan Daily); trans-editing by Wang Shixue