On August 25th, the “First Rural Vitalization Index Release Conference” was held at Renmin University of China(RUC). The conference was guided by RUC and China Association of Rural Development, and co-organized by the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, the Academy of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the China Academy of Rural Vitalization, and the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence. Lin Shangli, President of RUC, delivered a speech. Zhu Xinkai, Vice President of RUC, presided over the meeting.
Lin Shangli said that Rural Vitalization is a comprehensive and systematic project. To promote the rural vitalization, it is necessary not only to take practical and effective policy measures, but also to build a scientific evaluation system to objectively reflect the effectiveness of rural vitalization. Today, we witnessed the official release of the "China Rural Vitalization Index (2023)". This is not only an acceptance of the results of RUC's service to the rural vitalization strategy, but also a vivid practice of RUC's in-depth implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, which will help provide planning basis and practical guidance for rural vitalization work.
Zhu Xinkai introduced the background and purpose of the conference. He said that based on extensive research in multiple provinces, the China Rural Vitalization Index Research Team organized domestic and foreign experts to propose a multi-dimensional index system to systematically evaluate the level and potential of rural vitalization. This achievement has constructed China's first comprehensiverural vitalization evaluation system, providing a quantitative reference for the progress of rural vitalization, and is committed to promoting the annual release of the index. The database formed by the project has laid an important data foundation for building an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences in the field of rural vitalization.
Chen Chuanbo, executive director of the research team, released the research results of the first China Rural Vitalization Index. The index adopts a unified evaluation framework, systematically studies and sets the target values of rural vitalization indicators in 2035, provides a quantitative reference for the progress of rural vitalization, helps to show the advantages and disadvantages of rural vitalization in various places, and provides an objective decision-making reference for better promoting rural vitalization.
The report "China Rural Vitalization Index (2023)" shows that China's rural vitalization index has increased from 62 % in 2018 to 75 % in 2022, with an average annual growth of 2.7 percentage points. The growth rate slowed down in 2021 and 2022, and recovered in 2023, exceeding 2.8 percentage points. By 2035, rural revitalization will have made decisive progress (the index reaches 100), and the average annual growth of the rural revitalization index in the next 12 years needs to be maintained at 2.1 percentage points.
In terms of regional distribution, in 2022, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, Shandong and Tianjin will lead the rural vitalization index. The nine provinces that follow closely behind, Fujian, Anhui, Hubei, Ningxia, Guangdong, Hebei and Xinjiang, are also higher than the national rural vitalization index. In 2022, Zhejiang's farmer wealth index is significantly higher than other regions, and Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing, Hubei, Hunan, Tianjin and Guangdong also have high farmer wealth indexes.
This conference provides an important decision-making reference and exchange platform for the implementation of rural vitalization strategy. Experts and scholars attending the conference have expressed that they will promote the rural vitalization with more enthusiasm and more pragmatic style to continuously achieve greater achievements.
