The Impact of Livelihood Sources on Relative Poverty among Households in the Karst Mountains, a case study from Huajiang demonstration area, SW China

ABSTRACT After eliminating absolute poverty in 2020, China is shifting its focus from poverty eradication to achieving common prosperity, and relative poverty is currently a research focus.This paperuses interdisciplinary analysis methods to measure households’ livelihood sources and relative poverty in the karst mountains and explore the impact of livelihood sources on relative poverty. The results show that relative poverty in the Huajiang demonstration area is mainly manifested by a lack of material conditions influenced by natural conditions. The status of household labour, production conditions, social networks and natural conditions affect households’ livelihood sources. Increasing household livelihood sources can significantly alleviate their relative poverty status. The increase in household livelihood sources , agricultural modernization and breeding specialization can all significantly reduce household poverty level, whereas increased subsidy income may reduce the incentive for households to develop themselves. The study’s findings provide an important scientific basis for improving the livelihood resilience of households in the karst mountains and help consolidate and expand poverty alleviation.