"Human Development and Poverty Reduction"

This report attempts to summarize the history and current status of sustainable human development in China, focus attention on the outstanding challenges to be overcome, and make broad policy recommendations for tackling them. Special attention is given to the theme of poverty reduction.

Because this is the first National Human Development Report undertaken in China, it also tries to establish a baseline for future such efforts by discussing in some detail a wide spectrum of human development issues, including the distribution of income, health care, education and nutrition, population and migration, the status of women, employment, social security provision, and the state of the natural environment. There are many casual inter-connections among these various issues, which the Report tries to highlight. The Report finds that China has complied an admirable record of promoting human development, with falling poverty rates and improvements in the health and educational status of the population.