(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-31 16:37

BEIJING -- Key facts and figures on rural China.

Population

The rural population had declined to 737 million, accounting for 56 percent of the China's total population by the end of 2006,compared to 807.4 million and 63.9 percent in the year of 2000.

Income

The per capita net income of farmers reached 4,140 yuan (575.8 US dollars) in 2007, up 533 yuan, or seven percent, year-on-year, the biggest growth in history, compared to 2,476 yuan in 2002. It is the fourth consecutive year that income has grown by more than six per cent.

Grain production

The grain production increased steadily in 2007, with a total output of 501.5 billion kilograms, up 0.7 percent compared with 2006.

Central government's fiscal expenditure

Central government's budget on rural areas amounted to 391.7 billion yuan in 2007, up 15.3 percent year on year. Data from the Finance Ministry show that in 2006, the central government spent 19.1 billion yuan on rural education, 3.9 times of that in 2002; 2.96 billion yuan on rural culture services, three times of that in 2002.

Infrastructure

The highway mileage in rural areas has reached 3.02 million kilometers in 2007, compared to 2.44 million kilometers in 2003. 98.2 percent of townships and 86.4 percent of villages are connected to the road network.

Education

The Chinese government has exempt all 150 million rural students from tuition fees for nine-year compulsory education and has been providing free textbooks for poor rural students. Such a policy will be expanded to all the 150 million rural students in primary and junior high schools. China's Ministry of Finance said it would allocate a further 47 billion yuan (6.4 billion US dollars) to support rural education in the next three years until 2009.

Social Security System

The country spent 539.6 billion yuan in social security in 2007,2.05 times of that in 2002. More than 200 million rural residents are entitled to allowance for keeping minimum living standard.

Cooperative medical system

The new rural cooperative medical system, which started in 2003,is progressing smoothly. 726 million farmers have participated in the system as of September in 2007. It now covers more than 85 percent counties(prefectures) throughout the country.