China's Tibet and the Tibetan-inhabited areas in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces will strive to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020，said Fan Xiaojian, director of the State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Alleviation and Development on June 12.

By 2020, the per capita income growth rate of Tibetan farmers and herdsmen will be higher than the national average and that of farmers and herdsmen in Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan province will be higher than the provincial average level, said Fan at the poverty alleviation and development work meeting for Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in four provinces on June 12.

Poverty alleviation is currently one of the most important problems during the economic and social development of Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in the four provinces. 

In recent years, China has been increasing the strength of poverty relief work and investments, and has launched a series of preferential policies and support measures. Through giving priority to survival problems of poor farmers and herdsmen, improving their basic production and living conditions, and striving to develop their competitive industries, the poverty alleviation work has achieved significant results.

According to the new measure of poverty by the central government, the poor population of Tibet and Tibetan inhabited areas in the four provinces dropped by over 50 percent from nearly 26 million in 2001 to slightly over 12.1 million in 2009. 

Meanwhile, the incidence of poverty decreased from nearly 20 percent to more than 9 percent. In addition, the rural per capita net income increased by nearly 119 percent from 1,765.2 yuan in 2001 to 3,858.7 yuan in 2009, and the growth rate is nearly 151 percent for rural Tibetan residents.

Fan said Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in four provinces, including Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, are still the largest poverty-stricken areas in China. Currently, the scope of poverty is wide, the quality of life in poverty-stricken areas is very low and the rate of returning to poverty is high in those areas. In addition, geological disasters caused by bad natural environments and abnormal weather have resulted in a greater loss of lives and property. Compared with the problems, the gap between the funds for poverty alleviation and the actual demand is still large and the power of poverty alleviation agencies is relatively weak.

Fan emphasized that the central government will further improve the allocation of poverty alleviation funds to break the line between key counties and normal counties. The government will also treat poverty areas as a whole for development and comprehensively manage the whole area and continually strengthen the cooperation of poverty alleviation and the poverty-alleviation work in specific areas.