BEIJING, Feb. 16 -- Chinese authorities have published a set of criteria for assessing local poverty-relief work in its latest effort to deliver on the government's target of lifting all people out of poverty by 2020.

The evaluation criteria, released by the general offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, will mainly check on local authorities' efforts to identify, help and reduce the impoverished population, as well as whether poverty relief funds are used effectively.

The method will apply to 22 provinces and regions in central and west China, where the impoverished people are most concentrated.

The evaluation, organized by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, will be conducted annually for the 2016-2020 period.

Authorities that fail to deliver satisfying poverty reduction results will be held responsible, and the results will serve as major reference to assess the performance of government officials, according to the method.

Despite China's stellar economic growth in the past decades, there are still 70 million people living below the poverty line of 2,300 yuan in annual income by 2010 price standards last year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping describes eliminating rural poverty as the most difficult challenge in building a "moderately prosperous society," and the government aims to help the remaining poor people shake off poverty and enjoy essential social services by 2020.