Basic public services coverage increase in both urban and rural areas. The State Council issued the National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020), and the central government appropriated a fund of 1.1 billion yuan to promote the development of new-type professional farmers in two provinces, 14 municipalities and 300 counties. China improved the occupational training and testing of farmers in 2014, with more than 400,000 people trained and tested in that year. China also organized training sessions for leaders in practical rural skills, and 12,000 people participated in the training in 2014. Professional training sessions were also held on modern planting and breeding as well as on animal sanitation and epidemic prevention, with more than 70,000 people receiving the training in that year. By issuing the Opinions on Further Promoting Household Registration System Reform, the State Council lifted all restrictions on settlement in incorporated towns (towns with a population of at least 2,500) and small cities, established a uniform household registration system in urban and rural areas together with a residence permit system, established and improved a basic public service supply mechanism linked with residence period, and steadily promoted the complete coverage of basic public services for permanent urban residents.

Educational fairness better guaranteed. China is continuing to increase its input in educational resources, giving preferential treatment to central and western regions and compulsory education in the countryside. In 2014, the education expenditure from the general public services budget of the central government reached 410.19 billion yuan, up 8.2 percent from 2013. The central government allocated one billion yuan from its budget as supporting funds for pre-school education, 13.266 billion yuan for free textbooks for compulsory education courses, and 7.293 billion yuan as cost of living subsidies for boarders in schools offering compulsory education from families with financial difficulties. Nearly 110 million rural students receiving compulsory education benefited from exemption of all tuition and miscellaneous fees as well as free textbooks, first-grade pupils received dictionaries for free, and 12.4 million boarders from poverty-stricken households in central and western China received cost of living subsidies. Since November 2014 the nutrition subsidies covered by national pilot projects for rural students receiving compulsory education have been raised from 600 yuan to 800 yuan per person per year. In the same year, the central government allocated 17.156 billion yuan for nutrition improvement, benefiting 31.84 million students. Secondary vocational education was made free for more than 10 million students, and national grants were provided to nearly 4.88 million senior high school students, 3.15 million secondary vocational school students and 6.6 million college students. The central government also appropriated 31 billion yuan to upgrade schools with poor compulsory education conditions in poverty-stricken areas, with the focus on promoting pre-school education in rural areas, building dormitories for rural teachers in remote and border areas, building senior high schools in counties with a weak educational foundation in regions inhabited by ethnic minorities, and building special education schools in central and western China. The percentage of students receiving nine-year compulsory education remaining in school and the gross enrollment ratio of senior high schools were 92.6 percent and 86.5 percent, respectively. Twenty-eight provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government have started to address the problem of whether or not permitting children of rural migrant workers who received their compulsory education in cities to sit the national college entrance examinations in cities where they are now living. Institutions of higher learning continued to implement the country's Collaborative Admission Plan for Supporting the Central and Western Regions (initiated in 2008) and the Special Admission Plan for Students from Poor Rural Areas (initiated in 2012), expanding the two plans to cover 200,000 and 50,000 people, an increase of 15,000 and 20,000 people, respectively, over the previous year.

Poverty alleviation steadily promoted. China has adopted a strategy of taking targeted measures for poverty alleviation, and declared October 17 as "China Poverty Alleviation Day." Departments of the CPC Central Committee and the central government at various levels, enterprises and public institutions are paired up with and assisting all of the 592 counties that are key targets of the government's development-oriented poverty-reduction work. The central government appropriated 43.3 billion yuan for poverty reduction in 2014, an increase of nearly 10 percent over the previous year, adopted the policy of giving people work in place of relief subsidies, allocated 5.72 billion yuan to support the building of small and medium-sized infrastructure projects for public welfare, such as water conservancy projects, road construction, etc., and earmarked 680 million yuan as remuneration for people in poverty-stricken areas participating in the construction projects. China also resettled 916,900 impoverished people from poverty-stricken areas at a total cost of 5.5 billion yuan. It allocated 154.1 billion yuan out of the vehicle purchase tax to subsidize 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas, supporting the building and renovation of 31,700 km of expressways and national or provincial highways, building 96,000 km of rural highways and a batch of rural passenger bus stations, and solving the traffic problems of 93 townships, and 10,500 villages. The central government proceeded with the plan of building 138 bridges to replace ropeways in seven provinces and regions, namely, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. By the end of 2014 the impoverished population in rural China had decreased to 70.17 million, based on the criterion that the national poverty line has been set at 2,300 yuan per person per year (calculated at 2010 constant prices). This means that there were 12.32 million fewer poverty-stricken people at the end of 2014 than a year earlier.

The legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers effectively protected. By the end of 2014 the total number of migrant workers in China was 273.95 million, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2013. Governments at all levels endeavored to stabilize and increase employment as well as business development for migrant workers, thus effectively guaranteeing their legitimate labor rights and interests. The central government formulated the Plan to Raise the Vocational Skills of Migrant Workers, which improved social security and employment service at the community level for them, and provided funds to build 269 county-level employment and social security service centers, and 961 town and township service stations. It gave full play to the important role of the trade unions and other rights-protection organizations for safeguarding workers' rights, provided various kinds of employment services to more than five million people, and helped one million people sign labor contracts with a duration of over one year. In 2014 various central government departments and a social group jointly issued the Opinions of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, State Administration of Work Safety and All -China Federation of Trade Unions on Further Improving Work on Work-related Injury Insurance in the Construction Industry, further defining and detailing the relevant policies and measures. In the same year, human resources and social security departments at all levels investigated and handled 263,000 cases concerning wage arrears. People's courts at all levels investigated and settled 219,000 cases relating to the transfer of land-use rights, disputes over rural homestead and wage arrears, and convicted 753 persons for refusing to pay others for the labor rendered. The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Cases Concerning Work-Related Injury Insurance was promulgated in the same year to define employers' responsibility in case of work-related injury insurance, and how to deal with cases of work-related injury caused by third parties. The Provisions also made clear the administrative trial procedures relating to labor relations confirmation, and defined such factors as "work-related, time and place of work" in the identification of work-related injuries.

Social insurance coverage widened. The State Council issued the Opinions on Establishing a Unified Basic Pension Insurance System for Non-working Urban and Rural Residents in 2014, establishing a unified basic pension insurance system nationwide, which solved the problem of laborers, especially migrant workers participating in the basic pension insurance system for urban workers or non-working people. A total of 341.24 million people had participated in the basic pension insurance for urban workers by the end of 2014, and 501.07 million people had participated in the basic pension insurance system for non-working people, increases of 19.06 million and 3.57 million, respectively, compared with 2013. At the same time, some 597.74 million people had participated in the basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents and 736.27 million people had participated in the new rural cooperative medical care system. The coverage of the basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents exceeded 95 percent. In 2014 a total of 170.43 million people participated in the unemployment insurance scheme, an increase of 6.26 million over 2013, and the number of people receiving unemployment insurance allowances reached 2.07 million, making the average amount of 852 yuan per month. A total of 206.39 million people participated in work-related injury insurance in 2014, an increase of 7.22 million people over the previous year, among whom 73.62 million weremigrant workers, an increase of 980,000 people. As many as 170.39 million people participated in maternity insurance, 6.47 million more than in 2013.