基本生活保障水平不断提升。新中国成立以来，新疆各族人民生活条件发生了根本性改变，高寒边远山区农牧民逐步结束了没有电和自来水、交通封闭的时代。城镇和农村居民家庭恩格尔系数分别由1980年的57.3%和60%左右，下降到2016年的29.1%和31.7%。全面推进通水、通电、通气建设，截至2016年年底，800万农村人口饮水安全问题得到解决，农村自来水普及率达72.5%以上。实施安居富民、定居兴牧、城镇保障性安居工程建设，1978年至2016年，城镇人均住宅建筑面积由3.5平方米增长到31.1平方米以上；1994年至2016年，农村人均住房面积由9.46平方米增长到25.7平方米以上。积极推进交通建设，公路通车里程由1978年的2.38万公里增长到2016年的18.21万公里，同期铁路通车里程由1435公里增长到5868公里。高速公路、高速铁路从无到有，分别实现通车里程4395公里和717公里。民用机场达到18个。行政村公路通畅率达97.06%，建制村通客车率达96%，公民的出行更加便捷。

　　贫困人口生存发展条件进一步改善。坚持精准扶贫、精准脱贫，切实做到扶持对象精准、项目安排精准、资金使用精准、措施到户精准、因村派人精准、脱贫成效精准，把南疆地区作为脱贫攻坚的主战场，加大财政扶贫资金投入力度，汇聚行业、社会、援疆等扶贫资源，大力推进就业扶贫“十大专项行动”，加快基础设施和基本公共服务建设步伐，贫困群众生产生活条件得到极大改善。截至2016年年底，贫困发生率下降至10%，有力保障了贫困人口生存权和发展权。

A better quality of life has been guaranteed. Great improvements have been seen in the living conditions of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Farmers and herdsmen living in high mountainous, and cold or remote areas have gradually been provided access to power, tap water and modern transport facilities. The Engel coefficient of urban households decreased from 57.3 percent in 1980 to 29.1 percent in 2016; that of rural households from 60 percent to 31.7 percent. The autonomous region has directed a considerable effort to infrastructure construction in tap water, power and gas. By the end of 2016, the eight million rural population was guaranteed access to safe drinking water, and 72.5 percent of rural households had access to tap water. A series of programs were in place, involving rural safe housing subsidy, nomadic settlement subsidy, and urban low-income housing. The per-capita living space of urban residents rose from 3.5 sq m in 1978 to more than 31.1 sq m in 2016, while that of rural residents increased from 9.46 sq m in 1994 to more than 25.7 sq m in 2016. Transport has also been improved and the people now have access to convenient and rapid traffic facilities. From 1978 to 2016, the kilometrage of roads open to powered vehicles increased from 23,800 km to 182,100 km, and rail kilometrage grew from 1,435 km to 5,868 km. Expressways and high-speed railways developed from scratch, reaching 4,395 km and 717 km, respectively. About 97 percent of administrative villages now have access to metalled roads, and 96 percent have access to bus services. There are 18 civil airports in Xinjiang.

Further improvement has been made in the quality of life and daily living conditions of the impoverished. Xinjiang has implemented targeted and effective measures in poverty alleviation. Appropriate projects have been planned and carried out for the benefit of specific impoverished groups and even individual impoverished households. Aid workers have been assigned to villages according to specific conditions, and funds have been used effectively to achieve concrete results. Southern Xinjiang has been taken as the focus of the poverty-relief program. More funds and more social resources have been directed to the area. Ten special projects involving employment-based poverty reduction have been implemented. Infrastructure and basic public services have been improved. By the end of 2016, the incidence of poverty had dropped to 10 percent or less, thus better safeguarding the poor's rights to life and development.