Over 1m Chinese unable to access electricity

Though China's efforts to widen electricity coverage helped 1.5 million people access the national grid last year, another 1.23 million still lack access to the network, said the National Energy Administration (NEA) on Wednesday. The lack of access is most concentrated in the least developed regions in Xinjiang, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Tibet, where inhospitable terrain and remote distances have hindered coverage. According to an NEA plan, China aims to achieve full electricity coverage by 2015. Despite China's stellar economic performance in recent years, a considerable number of people still live in harsh conditions. Official data showed the number of poor people in rural areas stood at 98.99 million at the end of 2012, down 23.39 million from 2011. Rural people with an annual net income per capita of 2,300 yuan (337.05 U.S. dollars) or less are classified as poor under the poverty standard adopted in 2011, up from the 1,274-yuan standard used previously. China's poverty line is equivalent to less than 1 U.S. dollar a day and is lower than the World Bank level of 1.25 U.S. dollars a day.