China needs to establish a rural endowment insurance system as
soon as possible, as 70 percent of aged people lived in rural areas
and a large number of them turn to be "empty nesters," a leading
expert said Saturday.
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Currently, China has 134 million people aged 60 or above,
accounting for 10 percent of the total population; 110 million
people aged 65, taking up to 8.5 percent of the total. Seventy
percent of the aged people live in rural areas.
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Zhang Zaisheng, professor with the public administrative college
under the Tianjin University said at the First International Forum
on Social Security, held in Beijing on Saturday, that in the past,
aged people in rural areas were taken care by their children and
farmland were their sole income source.
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"However, with the growing population, rapid urbanization and the
development of non-agricultural industries, the per capita
occupation of farmland shrunk sharply. In addition, Chinese farmers
only had the right to use farmland, but did not own the farmland.
It was impossible for the aged in rural areas earn pension by
transferring the ownership of farmland. Therefore, today's the aged
in rural areas could not depend on farmland to spend their rest of
lives any longer," said Zhang.
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In addition, the implementation of the country's family planning
policies for more than 20 years has changed the extending families
to be small families in rural areas. And rural young generation
seemed more eager to work in cities and integrate in the colorful
urban life. Therefore, an increasing number of aged people in rural
areas turned to be "empty nesters", Zhang added.
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A provincial survey on living status of aged people in rural areas,
launched by central China's Hubei Province, showed that 27.6
percent of respondent in 170 counties of the province lived lonely,
up 11.4 percent from 20 years ago.
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The survey also showed that in 2002 every family in rural areas
spent 824 yuan (US$100) for taking care the aged people, taking up
to 8.5 percent of family's average annual income. No doubt,
farmer's burden of taking care the aged is becoming heavier, the
professor said.
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Thanks for the efforts made by governments at all levels, progress
has been made in recent years, and 1,870 counties and cities have
started to form rural endowment insurance system, which covered 55
million farmers. More than 1,200 counties and cities started to
establish the minimum social security system, which covered 44.5
million farmers.
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However, Zhang held that government should allocate more money for
the establishment of rural endowment insurance system.
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Zhang suggested that government should first calculate the basic
expenditure for an aged people in rural areas and then partially
pay the endowment insurance for them. To be specific, aged people
in rural area could only pay 50 percent of his or her endowment
insurance and the government pays the rest.
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In Germany and Japan, their governments also burden partly with
citizen's endowment insurance, Zhang said, adding that the Chinese
government could learn their experiences.
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2005)