Social protection key to poverty alleviation

In recent years, China further improved the program's governance. In 2011, the government standardized the criteria for determining eligibility and made the enrollment process more transparent. Since 2013, households can apply for Dibao directly, bypassing village and township officials. The government has also established auditing and eligibility cross-checking mechanisms. In terms of size, systems and sophistication, China's Dibao program is comparable to the largest and successful cash-transfer programs in the world, such as Brazil's Bolsa Familia and India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Program.

In addition to the Dibao program, China's social protection system stands out for the extraordinary expansion of its social insurance programs. China's innovative pension systems for rural and urban residents have grown rapidly, expanding the coverage of informal sector workers from around 50 million in 2008 to nearly 500 million by 2015, which represents the fastest expansion in social insurance globally. Old-age insurance programs now reach over 80 percent of China's population, and almost all Chinese people have medical insurance. Meanwhile, geography-based rural poverty reduction programs continue to play an active role in reducing rural poverty.

While still a work in progress, the building blocks for a robust social protection system can continue to be consolidated in the coming years. Under the new normal of slower economic growth, we believe it is critical for the government to continue to strengthen the Dibao program in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and take new measures to lift the remaining poor out of poverty.

China's spending on social assistance is still relatively low by international standards: Dibao claims only 0.3 percent of China's gross domestic product, compared with the average of just over 1 percent in East Asia. Dibao eligibility thresholds in the poorer Central and Western provinces are still considerably lower than the national poverty line. The government will also continue to explore better ways to address the social protection needs of migrants.

The World Bank, with its goal of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity, will continue to support the government's efforts to reach more people in poor households efficiently and contribute to China's impressive poverty-reduction effort.

The author is the World Bank country director for China.