China’s poverty alleviation efforts: A lesson for Namibia

By Uaueza Kanguatjivi in Beijing China

As Namibia works to solve its socioeconomic inequities, it can learn valuable lessons from China’s experience, such as using successful poverty reduction measures, prioritising targeted initiatives, and encouraging inclusive economic growth.

These are all critical steps towards creating a more equitable society. Namibia can move closer to realising its development goals of providing a dignified life for its residents by learning from China’s experience.

According to World Bank data, Namibia’s strong economic growth, labour income increases, and educational attainment improvements were all responsible for the significant decrease in poverty between 2003-2004 and 2015-2016.

During that time, Namibia’s official national poverty rate declined by nearly half, from 37.5 to 17.4 per cent, with the highest advances coming between 2009 and 2010. Based on the International Poverty Line (IPL) of US$2.15 (N$40.66) per person per day (2017 PPP), the global poverty rate fell from 35.9 per cent in 2003 to 15.6 per cent in 2015.

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