From Absolute Poverty to Relative Poverty: the Dynamic Evolution of Rural Poverty in China

In 2020, the poverty in rural areas will be basically eliminated when we use the current standard to estimate, but it does not mean the end of poverty. The focus of poverty alleviation in China will change from solving absolute poverty to alleviating relative poverty. Based on the survey data of Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) in 2002, 2013 and 2018, this paper analyses the dynamic changes of relative poverty in rural areas of China, and evaluates the effect of feasible policies to alleviate relative poverty. We find that the incidence of relative poverty in rural areas is increasing gradually, and the incidence of poverty in some special groups are higher, which is still a typical feature of the relative poor. In the aspect of alleviating relative poverty, government transfer payments such as the New Rural Pension Scheme, Subsistence Allowance and Policy Subsidy for farmers play a certain role in rural areas.