Pension Plan to Release Pressure
- Details
- Category: Governmental News
- Published: Wednesday, 12 October 2011 06:43
According to the Office on Aging, in the past two years, Ningbo has witnessed an accelerated aging population with over one million people aged over 60 for the first time, taking up 17.83% of the population in Ningbo. To release the pressure on the ageing population, the government has unveiled many measures such as offering allowances, home care services and volunteers to help seniors. In addition to material gains, voluntary groups were set up to take care of seniors. “Senior Chatting Group” from Beilun, for example, often visited the lonely seniors and kept them company. In total, there were about 13,000 volunteers for the elderly in Ningbo.
According to the Office on Aging, Ningbo has become an aging society since 1987, 12 years earlier than other Chinese cities. And during the 11th Five Year Plan, the elderly population grew at a rate of over 4% annually, even close to 5% in the following three years -- nearly ten times faster than the total population growth. What’s noticeably true is that seniors aged over 80 have reached 150,000, represented 14.6% of senior population.
In respond to the current situation, Ningbo government has taken the lead to launch a series of initiatives to put a new welfare system in place. Currently, about 150,000 seniors in Ningbo aged over 80 have received allowances ranging from 50 to 300 yuan.