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Working Paper
Changes in Poverty Profile in China
This study presents a comprehensive picture of poverty changes in China in the period of 1978-95. Using two micro-data sets from Household Income Surveys of 1988 and 1995, the author examines poverty distribution among various localities and population sub-groups. The results show that poverty has been and still is a location-specific phenomenon, especially in rural areas. Little difference of the incidence of poverty exists between males and females in both rural and urban areas. The poverty incidence presents a life-cycle pattern among age groups. The fact that poverty remains a greater threat to children and aged people implies that part of the poverty is transitional between age groups. There is a close relationship between the growth of household income and the speed of poverty reduction in rural areas. Poverty has become more closely related with unemployment in urban areas since 1990. The increasing inequality of income distribution in both rural and urban areas has created increasing difficulties in reducing poverty since the mid-1980s.