China has effectively solved the problems of subsistence, food and clothing for its rural residents, says a white paper released by the Chinese Government on November 16.

According to the white paper, titled New Progress in the Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction Program for Rural China, China's poverty-stricken rural population fell from 94.22 million at the end of 2000 to 26.88 million at the end of 2010.

The proportion of extremely poor people in the country's rural population decreased from 10.2 percent to 2.8 percent over the same period.

The white paper says China has realized, ahead of schedule, the goal of cutting its impoverished rural population by half, which was listed in the UN Millennium Development Goals, thus making a great contribution to the world's poverty reduction efforts.