China will raise the minimum standard of basic pensions for urban and rural residents by another 20 yuan (about 2.76 U.S. dollars) per month, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Sunday.
At a press conference on the people's livelihood during the third annual session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing, Wang Xiaoping, minister of China's Human Resources and Social Security, briefed on the current situation of the country's social security.
As of the end of 2024, the number of people covered by basic old-age insurance, unemployment insurance and occupational injury insurance reached 1.07 billion, 250 million and 300 million, respectively.
Due to the rapid changes in demographic structure, employment form and urbanization, the people have higher expectations for their living quality. The ministry will work hard to provide more adequate, fairer and more considerable support for the people, she said.
She highlighted some measures to be taken, with the first one related to relaxing household registration restriction on pension participation for the people with flexible employment.
"Based on their individual conditions, flexible workers can participate in enterprise employees' old-age insurance at their places of employment or domicile; or they can register pension programs for rural and urban residents. They can choose to pay monthly, quarterly, or annually, and the pension insurance can also be transferred and kept across provinces," Wang noted.
In addition, basic pension will be raised as well, the minister said.
"China will raise the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents by another 20 yuan per month on the basis of last year. This measure, which will be earnestly implemented, will benefit 180 million elderly residents. Meanwhile, basic pension for retirees will also be enhanced, especially for low- and middle-income groups. This will cover over 140 million retirees. We will carefully calculate and ensure timely and accurate payment," she said.
She hoped that with enhanced policy promotion, the public will better understand the social security, participate earlier in the social security and pay premiums for a longer time to the social security, thus providing security for their later life.
China to raise minimum standard of basic pension: minister
China to raise minimum standard of basic pension: minister
