People living under the city's poverty line are drawing subsidies from the government. (File Photo)
Dongguan has raised the standard for the city's poverty line. According to the new standard, the residents with a monthly income less than 440 CNY will be defined as the group living under the city's poverty line, and will receive a monthly subsidy from the government. The standard was 400 CNY in the year of 2010. The new standard took effect since January 1 this year.
The increase is the direct result of Dongguan's "low-income standard natural growth mechanism", which was established in June, 2010, giving automatic increases to the poverty line with change to the city s income index. The mechanism takes the poverty line of January 1, 2008 as the reference, and adjusts the standard every two years according to Dongguan residents' income index.
Although the poverty line was raised, the people living under the city's poverty line at the first quarter this year decreased by 3301 compared to the same period last year, according to the statistics released by Dongguan Civil affairs Bureau on February 23.
After the adjustment, Dongguan's poverty line is 341 percent higher than the existing national poverty line-1,196 CNY per capita net income a year.
(By Morvin Chow)
