Government and Policy
Old age allowances to be unified across China
By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-13 16:39
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Residents older than 80 will get a unified old age allowance across China, a move indicating the government aims to end different allowance policies toward the elderly in different regions, the China Economic Weekly reported Tuesday.
"Besides Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, only Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region gives allowances to the elderly beyond 80 on a monthly basis," the Weekly said, citing Wang Zhenyao, department director of social welfare and promotion of charities under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Provinces including Jiangsu and Zhejiang don't have a unified allowance policy. Some counties give the elderly 80 yuan ($11.8) a month, while others give 100 yuan a month. Some capital cities give only 10 yuan a month to the elderly beyond 80 years old.
In some provinces those beyond 80 years old enjoy old age allowances, while in other provinces only those older than 90 enjoy the allowances.
Yunnan province and Tibet Autonomous Region give a unified sum of allowance to those beyond 80 years old on a yearly basis, the Weekly said. Some of the elderly may not live to see the next payment, it said.
Wang said the Ministry of Civil Affairs had drafted many regulations, but different opinions within the ministry hindered the progress of carrying them out across the country. But now they have decided to unify old age allowance policies between different regions this year and those older than 80 years are all expected to benefit from the policy, according to Wang.
