YINCHUAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Xihaigu, one of China's poorest areas located in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, saw four more counties and districts shake off poverty, local authorities said Wednesday.

This means Xihaigu, comprised of nine counties and districts, has only one county to go before being lifted out of poverty as a whole, according to local poverty alleviation and development office. Four other counties had been lifted out of poverty by the end of last year.

The evaluation of the counties and districts has been conducted on the county, city and regional levels, and they were up to the standard of being removed out of the poverty list, the office said.

Xihaigu is a largely mountainous region that used to be labeled the "most unfit place for human settlement" by the United Nations in the 1970s due to land reclamation, drought, and a fragile ecological environment.