區域性整體貧困
2011年發布的《中國農村扶貧開發綱要（2011-2020年）》大致指出了中國連片特困地區的范圍：國家將六盤山區、秦巴山區、武陵山區、烏蒙山區、滇桂黔石漠化區、滇西邊境山區、大興安嶺南麓山區、燕山-太行山區、呂梁山區、大別山區、羅霄山區等區域的連片特困地區和已明確實施特殊政策的西藏、四省藏區、新疆南疆三地州，作為扶貧攻堅主戰場。中國在解決區域性整體貧困問題方面的主要理念和實踐是：第一，始終堅持以經濟建設為中心，堅持發展是硬道理，把發展作為解決中國所有問題的關鍵和中國共產黨執政興國的第一要務。第二，將生存權和發展權作為首要的基本人權。第三，在具體推進國家和社會發展中，有計劃、分階段、穩扎穩打地解決貧窮問題。第四，長期以來堅持有重點地解決貧窮問題。雖然中國脫貧攻堅目標是在2020年解決區域性整體貧困問題，但是在防止返貧、緩解相對貧困、縮小發展差距方面，依然任重道遠。
Overall Regional Poverty
In the Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Alleviation of China's Rural Areas (2011-2020), released in 2011, the following are identified as contiguous areas of extreme poverty: Liupan Mountains, Qinling-Bashan mountains, Wuling Mountains, Wumeng Mountains, desertified regions in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou, border mountainous regions in west Yunnan Province, regions at the southern foot of the Greater Hinggan Mountains, Yanshan-Taihang mountains, Lüliang Mountains, Dabie Mountains, and Luoxiao Mountains, as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan ethnic areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang (Hotan, Kashi and the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture) where special poverty alleviation policies have been applied already.
The following are the Chinese visions for eliminating regional poverty:
(1) Focusing on economic development as the central task and regarding development as the top priority and as the key to solving all issues in China and to improving the CPC's governance;
(2) Considering the rights to subsistence and development as the primary human rights;
(3) Advancing poverty alleviation in a planned manner, step by step; and
(4) Tackling poverty with priorities.
The country is expected to eliminate overall regional poverty by the year 2020, but after that there will be the challenges of preventing people from slipping back into poverty, relieving relative poverty, and narrowing the development gap.
