With a growing number of the elderly, China is seeing a widening gap for the endowment insurance fund for the aged, a Chinese official said.

To cope with the aging situation, China needs at least 2.5 trillion yuan endowment insurance fund as strategic reserve by 2030, said Li Bengong, executive deputy director of the Office of the China National Committee on Aging.

"The retiring population is growing by 6 percent each year, while the gap for endowment insurance fund in enterprises and firms is widening," Li said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health shows the medical insurance expense increased by 31.6 percent in 2004 as compared to 2003, which was mainly attributable to the aging population, Li said.

Chinese seniors above age 60 amounts to 143 million, making up 11 percent of the country's total population, accounting for half of the total aged population in Asia and 20 percent worldwide.

China currently has 32.5 million aged people that need nursing and looking after, according to the China National Committee on Aging and the Population Studies Institute.

More than 30 percent of Chinese cities have no service centers for the elderly in the communities and even more in the rural areas, Li said.

By 2020, there will be more than 30 million people above 80 years of age, Li said.

There are about 1,700 privately run retirement homes in China housing approximately 250,000 inhabitants and state-owned retirement homes accommodate about two million people, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

China is exploring a system for caring the aged in which families, communities and retirement homes will all take part, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2006)