According to a report of the Economic Information Daily on 17 February quoting official statistics, over 80 percent of workers in China have no basic pension insurance. More than 85 percent of people living in cities and towns do not have basic medical insurance, the paper added. The poor and the needy in urban areas have not received any systematic social assistance.

The report also said 140 million old people and more than 60 million disabled people and millions of women and children lacked necessary social welfare. The government's expenditure on social security is extremely low, the paper said, adding that it only occupied about two percent of the total government expenditure. However, the national income in fact has increased from 800 billion yuan in 1997 to more than 2.6 trillion yuan in 2004.

20 February 2006