31 counties in southwest China's Yunnan cast off poverty

A new batch of 31 county-level regions in southwest China's Yunnan Province shook off poverty amid the country's efforts to eradicate poverty by the end of 2020.

Relocation vehicles drive on a winding road towards Maojiawan resettlement area for impoverished people in Ludian County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 15, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Yunnan provincial government on Saturday officially approved the removal of the 31 regions from the list of impoverished counties, said the provincial poverty relief office Sunday.

Yunnan is the main battlefield of the national poverty alleviation efforts. Since 2015, more than 6.14 million poverty-stricken rural residents in the province have been lifted out of poverty. The poverty headcount ratio dropped from 17.09 percent at the end of 2014 to 1.32 percent at the end of 2019.

The province has lifted 79 of the 88 poverty-stricken counties out of poverty.

Yunnan has launched a 100-day campaign against poverty this year, striving to ensure that all the remaining registered poor population and poverty-stricken villages and counties are out of poverty by June.