Statistics show rise in pension fund pool

About 309 employees support every 100 social security retirees on the Chinese mainland in 2012, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Statistics released by the ministry on Tuesday, showed that 283 million employees were contributing to the retirement plan, while 69.11 million were pensioners in 2012.

The support rate rose slightly compared with 2.9 percent in 2003, with 290 pension contributors supporting every 100 retirees, which indicates that the pressure on the state employees' retirement system was relieved in a way.

Although China's population aging is an accelerated issue, the coverage of the employee pension program saw an annual increase rate of 8.2 percent in the past decade, People's Daily reported on Wednesday.

By the end of 2012, the pension fund pool saw a surplus of about 2.3 trillion yuan ($377 billion).