In its latest five-year-plan, China announced an ambitious bid to lift 56 million people out of poverty by the year 2020.

China's national poverty line is currently set at RMB2,800 per year. When most urbanites’ monthly rent is higher than that, urban areas are not the target of the new plan.

Poverty is the most prevalent in Western China, with 10 percent of residents falling below the line in some areas. That rate is as high as 12 percent in some places such as Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Ningxia, Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai.

These places will be supported by the government in their expansion of the agriculture, tourism and e-commerce industries. The aim is to lift the 56 million people above the RMB2,800 poverty line by 2020.



The plan also seeks to provide easier access to education and healthcare. If that isn’t enough, Beijing is ready to relocate people out of impoverished areas altogether. The government will then help them increase their incomes and employability.

The plan isn’t China’s first attempt at eliminating poverty. Leaders from Mao Zedong to Jiang Zemin have all sought to create a more equal society. But with the hundredth anniversary of the Communist Party arriving in 2021, the government has more of an impetus than ever to make a final push.

[Photos via Reuters]