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Poverty in China refers to the state of relative or absolute material deprivation that affects hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens, particularly those living in rural areas. Since the start of far-reaching economic reforms in the late 1970s, growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per capita income and a decline in the poverty rate from 85% in 1981 to 33.1% in 2008 (poverty being defined as the number of people living on < $1.25/day).〔 The poverty rate in China fell from 26% in 2007 to 7% by 2012, according to a different measure produced by Gallup.〔http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/24/business/china-poverty-report〕 At the same time, however, income disparities have increased. The growing income inequality is illustrated most clearly by the differences in living standards between the urban, coastal areas and the rural, inland regions. There have also been increases in the inequality of health and education outcomes. Exact statistics are disputed, as there have been reports of China's underestimating the poverty rate. Some rise in inequality was expected as China introduced a market system, but inequality may have been exacerbated by a number of policies, including the dismantling of the state health care system and the "Iron rice bowl" system of guaranteed employment and benefits; the imposition of restrictions on rural-urban migration that have limited opportunities for the poorer rural population; the inability to sell or mortgage rural land has further reduced opportunities; and development and investment policies that in the 1990s focused overwhelmingly on coastal regions. China has a decentralized fiscal system that relies on local government to fund health and education. The result has been that poor villages cannot afford good services and poor households cannot afford the high costs of basic services. The large trade surplus that China has built up in recent years is a further problem, because it stimulates an urban industrial sector that no longer creates many new jobs, while restricting the government's ability to increase spending to improve services and address disparities.〔http://china.usc.edu/App_Images/Dollar.pdf〕 The government has recently shifted its policy to encourage migration, fund education and health for poor areas and poor households, and rebalance the economy away from investment and exports toward domestic consumption and public services, to help reduce social disparities. ==Overview== Since Deng Xiaoping began instituting market reforms in the late 1970s, China has been among the most rapidly growing economies in the world, regularly exceeding 10 percent GDP growth annually. This growth has led to a substantial increase in real living standards and a marked decline in poverty. Between 1981 and 2008, the proportion of China's population living on less than $1.25/day is estimated to have fallen from 85% to 13.1%, meaning that roughly 600 million people were taken out of poverty.〔Anup Shah, 2010 http://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world#WorldBanksPovertyEste population, according to 2009 estimates.〕〔UNICEF and U.N. Human Development Report, ('Human and income poverty' )〕 At the same time, this rapid change has brought with it different kinds of stresses. China faces serious natural resource scarcity and environmental degradation. It has also seen growing disparities as people in different parts of the country and with different characteristics have benefited from the growth at different rates. Starting from the pre-reform situation, some increase in income inequality was inevitable, as favored coastal urban locations benefited first from the opening policy, and as the small stock of educated people found new opportunities. However, particular features of Chinese policy may have exacerbated rather than mitigated growing disparities. The household registration (hukou) system kept rural-urban migration below what it otherwise would have been, and contributed to the development of one of the largest rural-urban income divides in the world. Weak tenure over rural land also limited the ability of peasants to benefit from their primary asset. Aside from income inequality, there has also been an increase in inequality of educational outcomes and health status, partly the result of China’s uniquely decentralized fiscal system, in which local government has been primarily responsible for funding basic health and education. Poor localities have not been able to fund these services, and poor households have not been able to afford the high private cost of basic education and healthcare. The large trade surplus that has emerged in China has exacerbated the inequalities, and makes them harder to address. The trade surplus stimulates the urban manufacturing sector, which is already relatively well off. It limits the government’s scope to increase funding for public services such as rural health and education. The government has been trying to rebalance China’s production away from investment and exports towards domestic consumption and services, to improve the country’s long-term macroeconomic health and the situation of the relatively poor in China. Recent government measures to reduce disparities including relaxation of the ''hukou'' system, abolition of the agricultural tax, and increased central transfers to fund health and education in rural areas. The poverty in china is becoming a growing concern for the country and is trying to be maintained. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Poverty in China」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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