Xinjiang increases subsidies for poor

URUMQI - Regional government subsides for poor families in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region increased 6.6 percent to reach 4.16 billion yuan ($676 million) in 2014.

As a key program to improve people's living standards, the regional government earmarked 2.3 billion yuan and 1.8 billion yuan as living subsidies for urban and rural poor families respectively, said Peng Gang, an official with the regional civil affairs department on Friday.

Xinjiang has 860,000 urban citizens and 1.3 million rural residents who enjoy living subsides. The monthly per-capita subsidy is 277 yuan for urban families and 129 yuan for rural households.

In 2013, the regional government allocated 3.9 billion yuan as the minimum living allowances for the poor.

With a land area of 1.66 million sq km, Xinjiang has a population of 22.6 million. Ethnic minority groups account for about 60 percent of the total population.