China has set a target to reduce the poor rural population by more than 10 million and take 300 counties off the country's list of impoverished areas in 2019 — an important year for winning the tough battle against poverty by 2020, State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development head Liu Yongfu said on Thursday.

That will leave the country with fewer than 6 million people left to lift out of poverty and around 60 counties to be removed from the poverty list next year to achieve its goal of eradicating poverty by 2020, Liu added. Liu made the remarks at a news conference during the two sessions, the annual meetings of legislators and political advisers.

In the past six years China lifted more than 80 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 16.6 million at the end of last year, he said.

Of 832 total impoverished counties, 153 counties were removed from the poverty list in 2016 and 2017, and a further 280 will be announced to be removed from the list soon after assessment, he said.

Poverty alleviation has helped develop infrastructure and public services, optimize industrial layout and improve the environment in rural areas, he said.

However, he stressed China remains the largest developing country in the world and it will demand long-term efforts to address the problem of development imbalances.