CHANGSHA, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hunan Province saw 1.31 million rural residents shake off poverty in 2018, according to the on-going annual session of the provincial People's Congress Saturday.

The province reduced its poverty headcount ratio from 3.86 percent in 2017 to 1.49 percent last year, said Xu Dazhe, governor of Hunan, as he read the government work report at the opening meeting of the annual provincial legislative session.

Xu said 2,491 villages and 18 counties in Hunan removed their "poverty-stricken" labels last year, as the province's rural residents' per capita disposable income increased 11 percent to 10,285 yuan (about 1,524 U.S. dollars).

The governor said Hunan this year aims to lift at least 600,000 people out of poverty, with Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Ethnic Autonomous Prefecture being a major battlefield.