The government statistics of the province of Yunnan for 2004 clearly show the poverty situation of the province of Yunnan in China.

Yunnan is located at the south-western border of China. It is the portion of the province that comprises of the Yi ethnic group, mountainous region and borderland. The whole province is governed under 16 geographical districts. The total land area is 39 700 sq km, 94% of which is mountainous area, and there are 25 ethnic minority groups. The total population of the province is over 43 million, of which the population of ethnic minorities is 14.22 million, making up 33.4% of the total population of the province.

The question of poverty in the province of Yunnan is extremely striking. Due to the influence of historical, geographical-environmental and socio-economic development reasons etc., to date there is still a portion of poverty stricken people who live below the poverty line. According to the standard of poor people in the farming villages determined by the country of China in 2000 (the average annual disposable income of the farmers is below 625 yuan), the whole province also has 4.05 million people in dire poverty (including the poverty stricken and sick/handicapped population in the farming villages who are able to work), and 6 million members of the population are in a situation where they do not have stable access to food, clothing and shelter. This 10.05 million poverty stricken people mainly live together in economically backward mountainous regions that have bad natural conditions. The natural conditions are poor, the traffic is inconvenient, the skills and educational level are backward, and the ability for self-improvement is low. In the province there are 500 000 people who have lost conditions for survival. Over 2 million people are living in crumbling thatched huts, houses made of branches or wooden planks, and even within grottos which do not protect from the rain in summer, unable to keep out the cold during winter, and are open to the wind on all sides.

Up to the present moment, the whole province still has yet to solve the problem of drinking water for 4.71 million people and 3.032 million large livestock. Over 3 million people do not have electricity to use, 923 villages are not connected to public roads, 1548 villages do not have telephone connection. The population of 7 of the ethnic groups which are unique to this province make up less than 100 000 of the ethnic minorities (bulang race, pumi race, achang race, nu race, jinuo race, deang race and dulong race), more than half of this total population are living in a situation of absolute poverty, and the entire bodies of the deang race, nu race and dulong race are still living in a situation of absolute poverty.