Tibet plans to relocate 263,000 poor people in the next three years from 2016 in order to get 590,000 rural and pastoral residents out of poverty by 2020, according to official sources.    

The 263,000 poor people live mainly in the following locales: high and cold areas, areas with endemic disease, resource-poor areas, high-mountain and canyon areas, ecologically fragile areas, places with poor local infrastructure, areas with slow development of production, places with low living standards, areas of deep poverty, and places with difficulty or only by relocation to shake off poverty.   

The ecological system on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is fragile. The implementation of relocation will not only help improve people’s living conditions, but also benefit environmental protection and ecological construction.   

Tibet achieved an investment of 8.52 billion yuan to promote the construction of public services in poor areas, help 130,000 people out of poverty, and complete the relocation of 77,000 people currently living in poverty, according to TAR’s Government Work Report of 2016.  

In 2017, Tibet plans to relocate 163,000 people currently living in poverty.  

Aside from Tibet, there are currently 22 provinces (regions and municipalities) that engage in poverty relocation schemes, including Guangxi, Gansu, Yunnan, and Hubei provinces.

A total of 9.82 million people living in poverty will be relocated during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period(2016-2020).