Speech by Li Bengong, standing vice-director of China National Working Commission on Ageing

December 12, 2006

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning!

I am very glad to attend this press conference and extend my sincere thanks to you, the friends from the media, for your concern and support on the ageing course in China.

This year witnessed the tenth anniversary of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the elderly. It is also the first year of China’s 11th Five-Year Plan on the development of ageing course. The UN has decided to conduct a world-wide evaluation of the five-year implementation of the Madrid International Action Plan on Ageing Issues. Taking this opportunity, the State Council Information Office issued the white paper of the Development of the Ageing Course in China, in an effort to publicize both domestically and internationally the current situation of the ageing course development, to demonstrate the active attitude China has adopted and the great efforts China has made to protect the legal rights of the older persons and develop the ageing cause through which the international community will have a better understanding of the development of the ageing cause in China and the international exchanges and cooperation in the field of ageing will be further promoted.

The white paper is consisted of seven parts including the national working mechanism on ageing, old age security system, healthcare for the older persons, social services for the older persons, cultural activities and education of the older persons, participation of the older persons in the social development and protection of interests and rights of the older persons. Now, I’d like to make a brief introduction on the development of the ageing course in China based on content of the white paper.

As a big developing country facing the basic state situation of a large older population, fast pace of population ageing and imbalanced development, China, based on her reality, has set its goal for the ageing cause. That is the elderly should be entitled for old age security, medical care, accessible to education and life-long learning, remain contributive and enjoy a happy life. With this goal, the government has taken a series of effective measures and made remarkable progress in integrating the ageing cause with the social and economic development and in protecting the legal rights and interests of the elderly.

I. A system with laws, regulations and policies on ageing has been established. In the last two decades, the national people’s congress, the state council and the related ministries have enacted more than 200 laws, regulations and policies. At the national level, Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the elderly has been enacted. At the local level, 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipal cities have adopted the detailed measures for implementing the law or local specific regulations for protecting the rights of the older persons. In this regard, the system of laws, regulations and policies on ageing covering social security, social welfare, social service, health, education, sports, and industries has been formulated.

II. Development plans have been worked out in order to push forward the ageing cause in coordination with the social and economic development. Since 1994, China started to make a development plan on the ageing cause. This year, the 11 Five-Year Development Plan of the Ageing Cause was endorsed with goals, tasks and measures specified for the different development stages. The related ministries and departments under the state council have made their action plans on ageing. And the local governments also made their specific plans for their own areas. At the same time, a data collection system on ageing has been set up together with the monitoring and evaluation system, which enhanced the scientific planning and the effective implementation.

III. A network of organizations of the ageing work has been built up. In October 1999, the state council established the All-China Working Commission on Ageing with a role to plan and coordinate the nation-wide work on ageing issues. The commission chaired by the vice-premier of the state council is composed of 26 ministries represented by a vice-minister from each of the 26 ministries. China National Committee on Ageing serves as the commission’s secretariat and is responsible for its daily work. Currently the similar system has been set up nation-wide with working commissions on ageing at all levels from provincesautonomous regions and municipal cities) to the prefectures (cities) , counties and townships. The neighborhood committees in the urban areas and the village committees in the rural areas have appointed staff to deal with the work on ageing.

IV. The social institutions and stakeholders have been motivated and mobilized to participate in the development of ageing cause. The state has been mobilizing the whole society to care for, support and participate in the development of the ageing cause through the policies and publicity. The market mechanism has been fully utilized in encouraging and supporting the enterprises and institutions to provide various products and services for the elderly.The resources of the whole society have been widely mobilized to encourage the national and local ageing related NGOs in raising funds for the development of the ageing cause, organizing large scale cultural and sports activities, conducting scientific research on ageing, and promoting education for the elderly. The grass-root groups and voluntary organizations all over the country have been motivated to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the older persons and provide them with various kinds of services.

V. The living, rights and interests of the older people have been well protected.

Firstly，the old-age security system in both urban and rural areas has been established and the life of the older persons has been gradually improved. In the urban areas, there are 43.67 million retired persons entitled to the basic old-age insurance. And the mechanism for increasing the pension is established to ensure the timely and in full amount payment of the pension. There are 24 thousand enterprises which have established enterprise supplementary pension. In the rural areas, 13 million family support contracts have been signed which have guaranteed the rights of the elderly to be supported and receive assistance. There are 4.6 million older persons supported by the government “five guarantees” program. At present, there are 1,900 counties all over the country which have started the old-age insurance program in the rural areas with more than 2 million peasants receiving pension. More than 2 million peasants have got their pension. There are 1.35 million elderly people who are entitled to receive the subsidies under the national policy and program for encouraging family-planning. There are 11 provinces which have set up the employment and old-age security system for those peasants whose lands have been expropriated.

Secondly, the medical and health care for the elderly has developed rapidly. In the urban areas, the retirees who participate in the basic medical insurance can benefit from preferential policies. By the end of 2005, there are 37.61 million retirees who have participated in the health insurance program. Efforts have been made to alleviating the burden of the older population on medical care through various ways including medical subsidies for the civil servants, subsidies to the older persons suffering from major and serious deceases and complementary medical insurance offered by the enterprises. By June of 2006, the New Rural Cooperative Health Care Program has had a coverage f 495 million agricultural population with 73 percent of the elderly population participating in it. With the founding of the medical aid system in both urban and rural areas in a comparatively faster pace, s the burden of the older persons on the medical care has been reduced to some extend. A number of programs to assist the older persons have been conducted including the cataract operations for 6 million elderly. The National Leading Group of Health Care for the Elderly has been set up which has paid great attention to the medical care and health care services of the elderly, and it has a general practice of the medical institutions all over China to offer preferential services for the old persons. It has become common for the older persons to practice exercising activities and the number of older person who participate in frequent and regular exercising activities all over China is over 58 million.

Thirdly, the social service system for the elderly is being set up in a faster pace. The construction of community welfare institution for the elderly is strengthened, and there are 32 thousand starlight homes for the elderly have been established, with 30 million elderly people benefiting from these facilities. In 2005, the number of old age support and service facilities of various kinds reached 39.546 thousand service institutions for the elderly in both urban and rural areas with 1497 thousand beds have been built in both rural and urban areas. The average number of the urban welfare institutions for the elderly in each street is 1.32. The number of people to provide social services in the field of ageing has increased. By the end of 2005, there were nearly 20 thousand people who have obtained professional certificates of elderly nursing. A national voluntary program called JINHUI Action has been launched with 13 million young volunteers offering a total number of 630 million hours’ services for 2.8 million elderly people.

Fourthly, there has been progress achieved in the undertakings of the education and cultural activities for the elderly. The number of activity centers for the elderly in urban and rural areas is over 670 thousand, and the not-for-profit cultural facilities are open for the older persons either free of charge or with discounts. By the end of 2005, there are 24 kinds of newspapers all over the country for the elderly, with total circulation of 2.8 million, and 23 periodicals with circulation of 3.058 million. The various cultural activities for the elderly have been organized in order to enrich the life of the older persons. The education for the elderly develops rapidly. There are 26 thousand Universities or Schools for the elderly (University of the Third Age) with over 2.3 million students.

Fifthly, much attention has been paid to the participation of the older persons in social development. The elderly are encouraged to make use of their specialties. 38.7 percent of the total urban older person have participated in social and non-profit activities, and 5.2 percent of the elderly continue to work for an income while 36.4 percent of the rural elderly population take part in agricultural productive activities. The Silver Action Program which encourages elderly intellectuals to voluntarily work in the western areas or economically undeveloped areas of their residence has been practiced in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. There are 317 thousand Older Persons’ Associations in the grass-root units in urban and rural areas. The construction of barrier-free facilities has made much progress and the living conditions of the elderly and their environment of participating in social life have been gradually improved.

Sixly, the judicial protection for the rights and interests of the elderly has been enforced. During the 10th Five-Year Plan period, the legal service organizations have offered over 40 thousand cases of legal aid to the older persons, over 400 thousand cases of as-an-agent lawsuits and non-lawsuits services, and over 400 thousand cases of dissension intercession each year. Judicial agencies provide the elderly with priorities in lawsuits. Over 30 thousand older persons benefit from legal aids.

While we mention the progress, we also realize and are clear that there remain many problems in our work on ageing. It is a formidable task to accelerate the ageing undertakings and to solve ageing related problems. At present, the elderly population in China increases by 3 percent each year. Confronted with increasingly serious challenges brought by population ageing, the government will take more effective measures and strategies to realize the harmonious development of the ageing undertakings and that of economy and society, to realize a society where the elderly could enjoy the fruit of the economic and social development.

Now, I would be willing to answer your questions.