A minimum living standard system is expected to support some 30 million poor villagers by the end of this year, said an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).

The State Council has recently issued a circular, saying the minimum living standard system should be introduced to cover rural areas all over the country by the end of 2007.

All the rural people whose annual incomes are under the minimum living standard, which is set by local governments according to local prices for daily necessities, will get allowances from local governments, according to the circular.

The official said the minimum living standard and beneficiaries of the system will change from time to time according to local economic situation and residents' actual income.

By this July, more than 23 million people in rural areas had got subsistence allowances and more poverty-stricken rural residents will benefit from the system in 2007.

Local governments should fund more money to help the rural poor residents, the official said.

He said a comprehensive supervision system will be established to ensure the money is really spent in helping poor villagers.

Official statistics showed that China had 21.48 million rural people with annual income less than US$85 at the end of 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2007)