Pension insurance coverage to double by 2015

BEIJING - China will nearly double its pension insurance coverage by the end of 2015 to address the problem of a rapidly aging population, a senior social security official said Wednesday.

As many as 348 million more people will be covered by the program over the next three years, bringing the total participants to 807 million, or about 60 percent of China's population, Hu Xiaoyi, vice minister of human resources and social security, told Xinhua.

China has strengthened its efforts to improve the country's pension insurance system. The State Council, China's Cabinet, decided to adopt the program in all counties nationwide in the first half of 2012 after earlier pilot studies.

"In the next step, we will improve the adjustment mechanism for basic pension insurance based on multiple factors like price fluctuations, worker salaries and residents' income," Hu said.

By 2015, some 95 percent of the population will be covered by medical insurance, and insurance for work-related injury, unemployment and maternity will benefit 210 million, 160 million and 150 million people, respectively, Hu added.