PM: 30% of Cambodians live under poverty line

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Some 30 percent of Cambodians now live under the poverty line, said Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Tuesday while addressing a bridge inauguration ceremony.

"We are making efforts to reduce poverty step by step and I couldn't achieve giant leap in this regard," he said.

Cambodia realized 1 percent reduction of poverty on annual basis in the past years, thanks to the government policy and the economic growth, he said.

Cambodia is one among the 49 least developed countries in the world and the government previously claimed that 35 percent of the population lived under the poverty line of no more than 1 U.S. dollar of daily income for a person.