China set up a special organization in 1986 to take charge of development-oriented poverty alleviation. This organization, the State Council Leading Group for Economic Development of Poor Regions, identified 331 poor counties across the country, and the list was subsequently adjusted three times based on changing conditions.

In 2011, the Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Alleviation of China's Rural Areas (2011-2020) was released, and the updated list of 592 key poor counties and 680 ones in contiguous areas of extreme poverty - the total number being 832 after removing overlaps. They are the focus of state assistance to eliminate poverty.

By 2020, all rural poor population and poor counties are to be lifted out of poverty.

During an inspection tour in Chongqing in 2016, Xi Jinping pointed out that poor counties would be removed from the poverty list one by one once they had escaped poverty. These counties must neither be content with the status quo and wait for outside assistance, nor seek unwarranted credit by "pulling up seedlings to help them grow."

In 2016, 28 poor counties applied to be removed from the poverty list. Among them Jinggangshan City of Jiangxi Province and Lankao County of Henan Province were the first to pass national evaluation reviews, and quit the list on February 25 and 27, 2017 respectively. With the 28 counties being removed from the poverty list, for the first time since 1986, China saw a net decrease in the number of poor counties. This set a good example for other poor counties to follow suit.

By late February 2020, 601 of China's 832 poor counties had announced to have eliminated poverty, 179 were going through national evaluation reviews, and the remaining 52 were expecting to be removed from the poverty list soon. Overall regional poverty has been basically eliminated throughout the country.