180m Chinese receive pension funds in Aug

CHONGQING -- More than 180 million Chinese were receiving their basic pensions in August with some 600 million people covered by the nation's pension system, a senior social security official said Monday.

Among the pension receivers, 116 million were rural and urban residents who contribute to their own pension accounts while 70 million are retirees from enterprises and public institutions, Hu Xiaoyi, vice minister of human resources and social security, said at a forum in the southwestern city of Chongqing.

The vice minister said the government will gradually increase the fiscal support for new rural and urban residents pension insurance.

"We will establish a mechanism subject to normal adjustment and will steadily raise the basic pension standard," Hu said.

As of July 1 this year, pension insurance has covered all rural residents and unemployed citizens, he said.

About 427 million Chinese have been insured by the new rural endowment insurance and the urban residents social pension insurance systems at the end of August, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The amount of basic insurance varies, however, among rural and urban residents. Some aged rural residents can only claim a monthly basic pension of 55 yuan ($8.7) while some urban retirees can receive as much as 7,000 yuan.

Some 123 million Chinese people were older than 65 at the end of 2011, accounting for 9.1 percent of the total population, according to official data.