Multiple Scenarios and Causes of Poverty in Ethnic Minority Concentrated Areas

China is a united multi-ethnic country, inhabited by totally 56 ethnic groups. According to the sixth census, the aggregated population of the 55 ethnic minority groups is about 133,792,200, accounting for 8.49% of the population of the Chinese mainland. The area of ethnic autonomous regions accounts for 64% of the national total, with most of border regions and western regions being ethnic minority concentrated areas. This basic situation of China has decided the critical status of the development of ethnic minority groups and ethnical minority areas in China’s overall social and economic development.