China will raise its poverty line significantly as part of efforts to spread the country's wealth more equitably, but say more needs to be done, Chinese media reported.

The government set the current poverty level of 1,196 yuan (136 euros) per capita annually in 2009, or about six times the amount in 1985, when the idea was introduced in China.

Still, a number of people say the standard fails to reflect the country's economic development and rising standard of living.

The 1,196-yuan level is just 23 percent of the annual per capita income for rural residents in 2009.

"The new poverty line should be raised to between 1,300 yuan and 1,400 yuan, which would take into account both basic living costs and requirements for a healthy life, including education and healthcare," an unidentified National Bureau of Statistics official was quoted by the 21st Century Business Herald as saying recently.

No timetable has been set for the new poverty line.

At the end of 2009, China had 35.97 million rural residents living below the poverty line. This was 3.6 percent of the rural population, official figures showed.

But as many as 150 million Chinese were actually living on less than $1.25 a day and were regarded as poor by the internationally accepted guidelines of the World Bank.

That number of people in China living below the international poverty line fell from 10.3 percent of the population in 2004 to 4 percent in 2007, according to the World Bank.

Wang Xiaolin, chief of the research unit at the International Poverty Reduction Center of China, says the country is planning to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020.

But a number of analysts have pointed out that the poverty standard is not the only measure needed to eradicate poverty.

"The definition of poverty includes many things," Wang was quoted as saying by the 21st Century Business Herald.

"In addition to low income, people lacking other basic items such as education, medical care and safe drinking water are also regarded as poor."

The country also helps the poor through preferential policies and funds at the local level to improve infrastructure

But more work should be done to improve living conditions, such as building roads, providing electricity and guaranteeing safe drinking water, analysts say.

A number of poverty-stricken areas are not willing to spend more on the poor even when the local economy is well developed, they say.