China and Poverty

            China is the most populated country in the world.  According to the 2001 census China has 1.27 billion people According to UNICEF, “90 million children go hungry in South Asia.”  However, in recent years China has been working on reducing the poverty rate in the country because 250 million people were in poverty in China in 1978 and dropped to 35 million in 2000. 

            The biggest factor to the poverty dropping is China making a shift from a centralized market economy to a more globalized economy.  However, in recent years much of the factors for 35 million still in poverty deals with the fact that 1.)  Western China has had slower economic growth and was 3 times more likely to be poor than a person in Eastern China.  Eastern China is definitely benefiting from controlled liberalization and carefully planned foreign investment, and China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 has help with employment and job opportunities. 

            4.2 million Chinese children live in poverty and 8.7 million Chinese children live in disadvantage situation. Urban Social Security Reform has helped provide families in China with anti-poverty initiatives, although small due to China being a Communist country, which is big step.