BEIJING, Dec. 18, 2020 — A video by China.org.cn: housing, drinking water, transportation are the basic elements of happiness. How did China make rural people’s lives better?
 
Safe housing is an important source of happiness.
From 2013 to 2019, the central government provided US$28 billion to improve housing for rural people, and the average housing subsidy for each rural family was raised from US$1,120 to US$2,090.
7.33 million rural families representing 23 million rural people, equivalent to the population of Australia, have moved to safe and spacious new houses over the last 7 years.
From 1978 to 2018, per capita housing space in rural areas increased nearly fivefold. The average family of four now occupies a 190 sqm apartment compared with a 32 sqm one.
Since 2016, the central government has invested a total of US$4 billion to provide clean and safe drinking water in rural areas improving the lives of more than 17 million impoverished people.
As of 2019, 87% of rural areas had access to a central water supply and the tap water coverage in rural areas had reached 82%.
"Electricity for every household" has been fully realized in poor areas so that every household has access to a reliable and stable electricity supply.
99,000 km of new arterial roads have been built, the equivalent of circling the global two and a half times.
100% of administrative villages have paved roads – the "last mile" problem has been solved.
4G coverage in administrative villages, and internet coverage in rural villages have both topped 98%. Rural villages are connected to the internet, and the outside world is no longer out of reach.
By the first half of 2019, domestic waste was being collected and treated in 84% of administrative villages and almost 30% of farm households had their domestic sewage treated. The proportion of domestic waste and sewage treatment is increasing steadily.
[Ending poverty in China: Data speak] How can we make rural people’s lives better? http://p.china.org.cn/2020-12/17/content_77021995.htm
