As China battles its aging population and pension scheme shortfalls, 13 funds in regions and administrative units are unable to finance less than one year’s worth of retirement benefits, Reuters reports.
Citing China’s 2016 Social Security Development Annual Report, the official Beijing News reported that Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Hubei, Shaanxi, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Jilin, Qinghai, Heilongjiang, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps are all currently in dire straits when it comes to the state of paying their beneficiaries, as each fund falls under the “less than one year’s worth” category.
One fund slightly better off than the others is Guangdong province, which can pay 55.7 months’ worth of pensions.
According to the report, the total expenditures of China’s urban employee pension funds increased 23.4% on year to 3.19 trillion yuan. At the same time, total incomes grew 19.5% to 3.51 trillion yuan.
Deputy Director of Pension Insurance at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security Jia Jiang told the Beijing News that China has more than 230 million people over age 60. In 2050, Jiang predicted the pensioner to worker ratio will be 1:1.3.
China will soon begin a pilot program to transfer shares in state-owned firms to social security funds, where the initial trial will limit the plan to small portion of central and provincial firms, Reuters reports.
Tags: China, Funded Status, Pension