|
CHINA> National
![]() |
|
New rural pension plan brings hope to aging farmers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-30 11:09 NANJING: Zheng Baolin thinks his 0.5-hectare farm may not support him when he grows too old to work.
"I've been thinking of what I should do when I can't grow crops anymore.I think maybe I can try the new pension program," Zheng said. A pilot rural pension program launched in China in August is expected to embrace 10 percent of the nation's counties by the end of 2009, and expand to cover the whole country by 2020. It differs from the previous pension program, where funding was supplied by the farmers themselves. The new scheme will be subsidized by the central and local governments. Farmers over 60 will receive a monthly endowment of varying amounts set according to their area's standard income levels after paying a fee to join the program. In a country where the number of the people aged 60 and above exceeds 153 million, or 11 percent of the total population, the new pension program is bringing new hope to people like Zheng. Zheng paid 9,300 yuan (1,300 US dollars), or 1.5 times his annual income, last October in exchange for a life-time insurance pension.
"I was told I would get more as our city develops. That will ease the burden on my daughter who supports me," he said. China's one-child policy during the past three decades has increased the burden on sons and daughters who have to support their parents singlehandedly. The problem is worse in rural areas because many young people there have migrated to work in cities. They stay away for longer periods of time and some have even moved permanently. But their parents mostly stay in the countryside. |
惠东县| 缙云县| 铁力市| 永康市| 沭阳县| 宝清县| 游戏| 清原| 屯昌县| 新安县| 曲沃县| 个旧市| 封丘县| 寻甸| 衡东县| 望都县| 赫章县| 静安区| 抚宁县| 洞口县| 临汾市| 合川市| 溧水县| 澄迈县| 大同市| 林州市| 曲麻莱县| 临清市| 尼勒克县| 全南县| 若羌县| 嘉荫县| 丹江口市| 江华| 和龙市| 惠水县| 沽源县| 富锦市| 唐河县| 潼关县| 娱乐|