Differences and Influencing Factors of Relative Poverty of Urban and Rural Residents in China Based on the Survey of 31 Provinces and Cities

Abstract

China achieved comprehensive poverty eradication under the current standards in 2020, but eliminating absolute poverty does not mean the end of poverty alleviation and reduction; relative poverty will exist for a long time and has become the subject of poverty study. In this paper, the social poverty line (SPL) index is utilized to establish the relative poverty standard, and CHFS2017 is used to compare the regional distribution of relative poverty in China. The results show that the relative poverty in rural areas is more serious than that in urban areas. The rural relative poverty rate in five provinces and cities including Beijing is over 60%, and the rural relative poverty rate in Qinghai is low. The urban relative poverty rate in many provinces and cities of the central and western regions is below 40%, and the relatively high relative poverty rate in the eastern region has drawn attention to the issue of the income distribution. Moreover, a logit model for binary is employed for the influencing factor analysis of the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. The results show that the education year has a negative effect on the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. Happiness has a positive effect on urban residents, government financial expenditure and financial support for agriculture have different effects on rural residents and urban residents. Therefore, we put forward aiming at relative poverty in the rural areas of the central and western regions to reduce financial pressure and increase the benefits of poverty reduction.