From the Hindu:

The number of China’s rural population “in abject poverty” dwindled by 2.9 million in 2004 from the previous year, the government said on Thursday.

The number of rural residents living in abject poverty stood at 26.1 million at the end of 2004, or 2.8 per cent of the total rural population, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).