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Xinjiang lifts 1.74 million out of poverty

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Around 1.74 million people in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have risen above the poverty line in the past five years, according to new official data.

The local government said after a meeting on poverty alleviation Thursday that the poverty-stricken population in the region has been reduced to 1.85 million, thanks to industrial development, modern agriculture and urbanization.

The per-capita annual income of farmers in counties classified as the most impoverished increased to 6,690 yuan (around 1,080 U.S. dollars) last year from 3,543 yuan in 2011, according to a statement.

More than 94 percent of poor villages have access to tap water, while 96 percent, 92 percent and 98 percent of poor villages have access to electricity, roads, radio and television respectively.

More than 600 million Chinese have escaped poverty in the past three decades, about 70 percent of the total global achievement.

Xinjiang, with a population of 22 million, is home to 47 ethnic groups including Han, Uygurs, Kazaks, Mongols and Tajiks. Endi