Oxford Scholar: China Ended Extreme Rural Poverty

Five years after China declared victory over extreme poverty, a respected Oxford scholar is standing by that claim while asking the West to rethink how it measures success.

Professor Robert Walker, an emeritus fellow at the University of Oxford and current professor at Beijing Normal University, told reporters in Beijing that China genuinely ended a specific form of poverty. It's called absolute poverty, the kind where families can't afford basic survival from one day to the next.

"China eradicated a version of that poverty in rural China, and that's what we're celebrating five years on," Walker explained at the 2026 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum. "It was a real achievement."

His comments respond to ongoing Western debates, including a Financial Times article questioning whether China truly ended poverty. Walker wrote a counter piece defending China's progress.

The heart of the confusion lies in how we define poverty, Walker argues. Poverty isn't static; it evolves as countries develop. China has transformed from a poor nation into an upper middle income country nearing high income status.

Critics point to China's poverty threshold, claiming it's too low compared to World Bank standards for middle income nations. Walker found that criticism misses the bigger picture.

"As economic growth rose, so living standards rose," he said. China lifted people above multiple poverty thresholds through sustained economic growth, even without explicitly targeting some international benchmarks.

Walker acknowledges China's original poverty line may be too low for today's more prosperous China. The government recognizes this too, he notes, and continues working toward "common prosperity," a broader goal beyond just survival level income.

The Ripple Effect

China's approach offers lessons for other developing nations tackling poverty. By focusing on sustainable growth rather than just meeting static income thresholds, the country lifted living standards across the board.

Walker believes Western observers often arrive looking for failure rather than understanding. Cherry picking individual struggling cases tells only part of any nation's story, missing the forest for the trees.

The real story is one of progress, not perfection. China achieved something remarkable with absolute rural poverty, and that success deserves recognition even as new challenges emerge.