China's pension insurance programme covers 486 million

BEIJING: China's urban and rural pension insurance programme now covers 486 million people, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said today.

"As many as 133 million elderly people are receiving monthly pensions," said Liu Conglong, the vice director of ministry's rural pension department.

China currently has about 185 million people above 60 years, constituting 13.7 per cent of the over all population.

In 2009, the government kicked off a rural pension pilot and announced a pilot social pension insurance program for urban residents in 2011 to expand the pension system's coverage.

With sponsorship from the government, rural residents over the age of 60 can receive monthly endowments that are proportionate to local income standards.

The payment for the insurance comprises two different parts: basic insurance, which is fully provided by the government, and the personal pension account, paid by rural residents themselves, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

However, a recent survey has revealed inadequate and unbalanced pension distribution in the country.

Nearly 39.1 per cent of the 2,000 people surveyed by an official think-tank complained that pensions were too little to meet their living needs.

The survey by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said only 17 per cent of the respondents said they can live off their pensions.

Elderly people in rural areas strongly complained about the rural endowment insurance system, as 78.9 per cent of insurance buyers said the pension could not meet their living needs, while 56 per cent of their urban counterparts complained about the same problem.

In comparison, only 3.8 per cent of government staff complained about the same.

"Different feelings from endowment insurance participants reflect the differentiated pension welfare system," the report published in the official media early this year said.

However, 76.4 per cent of those surveyed said, in general, they were satisfied with the country's endowment insurance systems, it added.