Beijing considers raising poverty line

An unidentified official at the National Bureau of Statistics said China should significantly increase its statistical "poverty line," state media reported. The current poverty level is RMB1,196 (US$179) per capita annually, set in 2009. The number is six times higher than the 1985 level, but some argue that this figure fails to take into account changes in living standards. At the end of 2009, China had 35.97 million rural people living below the official poverty line, or 3.6% of the rural population. But according to the World Bank standard, nearly 150 million Chinese people were living on less than US$1.25 per day, and were therefore considered poor. The NBS official said the new poverty line should be raised to between RMB1,300 and RMB1,400 per year, "which would take into account both basic living costs and requirements for a healthy life, including education and health care."