Page:2018 Report on the Work of the Government.pdf/5

 optimize services, have driven profound shifts in the functions of government, and significantly strengthened market dynamism and public creativity. The Belt and Road Initiative has been making major progress. The composition of both Chinese foreign trade and foreign investment in China has been improved, with volumes ranking among the largest in the world.

Over the past five years, living standards have been constantly improving.

We have made decisive progress in the fight against poverty: More than 68 million people have been lifted out of poverty, including a total of 8.3 million relocated from inhospitable areas, and the poverty headcount ratio has dropped from 10.2 to 3.1 percent. Personal income has increased by an annual average of 7.4 percent, outpacing economic growth and creating the world's largest middle-income group. Tourist departures have grown from 83 million to over 130 million. Social old-age pension schemes now cover more than 900 million people, and the basic health insurance plans cover 1.35 billion people, forming the largest social safety net in the world. On average, life expectancy has reached 76.7 years. Over 26 million housing units have been rebuilt in rundown urban areas, and more than 17 million dilapidated houses have been renovated in rural areas. Thanks to these efforts, more than one hundred million Chinese have moved into new homes.

Over the past five years, the environment has seen gradual improvement.

To address air, water, and soil pollution, we have designed and enforced a ten-point list of measures for each and achieved solid progress. Both energy and water consumption per unit of GDP have fallen more than 20 percent, the release of major pollutants has been consistently declining, and the number of days of heavy air pollution in key cities has fallen 50 percent. Forest coverage has increased by 10.87 million hectares, and the area of desertified land has been reduced by close to 2,000 square kilometers on average each year. Encouraging progress has been made in green development.

In the year just passed, all main targets and tasks for economic and social development were accomplished and performance has exceeded expectations. GDP grew 6.9 percent and personal income rose 7.3 percent, both beating the previous year's growth rates. Around 13.51 million new urban jobs were created, and the jobless rate was the lowest in recent years. Industrial growth began to rebound, and corporate profits increased 21 percent. Government revenue grew 7.4 percent, reversing the slowdown in growth. The total import and export value rose 14.2 percent. Inward foreign investment reached 136.3 billion U.S. dollars, hitting a new all-time high.

The state of play in the economy was good, with growth and quality,