Unemployment insurance. At the end of 2003, there were 103.73 million people participating in unemployment insurance, an increase of 1.91 million over the previous year. There were 4.15 million people receiving insurance compensation for unemployment, a decrease of 250,000 compared with the figure at the end of the previous year. There were 8 million unemployed people through unemployment registration in urban areas, with the urban unemployment rate standing at 4.3 percent, up 0.3 percentage points over the figure at the end of the preceding year.

Reemployment. In 2003, some 8.59 million new jobs were created in urban areas throughout the country, 10.38 million laid-off workers obtained the Reemployment Preference Card, and 4.4 million people were reemployed. As of the end of 2003, there were 2.6 million laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises, a decrease of 1.5 million year on year. Of them, 1.95 million people were registered at reemployment service centers, where they received allowances for basic subsistence and had their social security fees for pension, medical care and unemployment paid. In Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and Guangdong, there are no longer reemployment service centers as the guarantee for the basic living of laid-off workers has been integrated with unemployment insurance.

Social management system for enterprise retirees. At the end of 2003, there were 154.9 million people participating in basic pension insurance, an increase of 7.53 million over the previous years. Of them, 116.38 million were active staff and workers and 38.52 million were retirees. Retirees were paid the majority part of their pensions in full on time, and no new arrears occurred. As of the end of 2003, some 29.33 million retirees from enterprises were provided with services through social channels, with coverage of the social management system reaching 84.5 percent, up 22.8 percentage points compared with the third quarter and 41 percentage points compared with the end of 2002.

Medical insurance. At the end of 2003, there were 108.95 million people participating in medical insurance, an increase of 14.95 million year on year. Of them, 79.77 million were active staff and workers and 29.18 million were retirees, a year-on-year increase of 10.51 million and 4.44 million, respectively.

Employment injury insurance and birth insurance. At the end of 2003, there were 45.73 million people participating in insurance against injuries at work, an increase of 1.67 million year on year. Some 370,000 people were compensated for injuries at work during the year. With the promulgation of the Regulations on Employment Injury Insurance, most provinces made plans for the implementation of the regulations. At the end of 2003, there were 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities that had carried out work related to birth insurance. Some 36.48 million people participated in birth insurance, an increase of 1.6 million over the previous year, and 350,000 staff and workers were compensated for birth insurance.

Subsistence security. The subsistence security system for urban residents has entered into sound operation with a dynamic management that covers the widest possible range. In 2003, a total of 22.35 million urban residents received subsistence security allowances from the government, 1.7 million more than the previous year's figure. Expenditures on the subsistence security amounted to 15.3 billion yuan, an increase of 4.04 billion yuan, or 35.9 percent, over the previous year. Expenditures per capita on the subsistence security were 59 yuan, up 13.5 percent over the per-capita standard of the previous year.

Aid system for extremely poor rural households. At the end of 2003, there was a poor population of 29 million in rural areas. The minimum living subsidy system was tried in some rural areas with a total of 3.97 million people, directly benefiting approximately 1.92 million rural people. Meanwhile, 4.1 million rural households, totaling approximately 7.93 million people, enjoyed regular relief.

Special care to people entitled to special government care and preferential treatment. In 2003, more than 4.85 million people received the state pensions and subsidies for those entitled to special government care and preferential treatment, 33,000 people less than the previous year, a result of normal and natural reduction of beneficiaries. In 2003, as the standards of allowances to those people were generally raised, together with the establishment and improvement of fund accruement mechanism, funds for these particular purposes increased by a large margin over the previous year. The expenditures on such purposes totaled 9.5 billion yuan, an increase of 1.9 billion yuan, or 25 percent, over the preceding year. During the year, arrangements were made for 438,000 demobilized compulsory servicemen and rank-and-file soldiers, in addition to 24,000 retired military officers.

Social welfare undertakings. In 2003, there were 36,000 various social welfare institutions for adoption purpose. With more than 1.22 million beds, these institutions took in 924,000 people. During the year, more than 5.62 million bodies were cremated, an increase of nearly 1.55 million over the previous year, up 38 percent. Welfare-oriented enterprises numbered 34,000, employing 681,000 handicapped people. In urban areas, there were 192,000 various facilities for community services, including 9,251 comprehensive community service centers.

Sales of welfare lotteries. The sales of welfare lotteries in China exceeded 20 billion yuan in 2003, 3.2 billion yuan more than in 2002, up 19.05 percent, raising 7 billion yuan of social welfare funds. In accordance with relevant regulations, 3.47 billion yuan was left with the civil affairs organs for purposes of support to the aged, aid to the disabled, and assistance to orphaned children and those in special difficulties. The other 3.53 billion yuan was turned over to state finance, which would be used for subsistence security and other public good undertakings in urban areas.

China started welfare lotteries in 1987. Over the past 17 years, the accumulative sales have exceeded 100 billion yuan, raising approximately 32.35 billion yuan of social welfare funds. Of this amount, about 70 percent have been utilized, financing about 120,000 social welfare and public good undertakings.

Public good activities. As of June 2003, volunteers registered for science popularization had surpassed 400,000 and volunteers for community services reached 5.4 million, while more than 100 million youths provided more than 4.5 billion hours of voluntary services to the society. More than 90 percent of Chinese showed willingness to participate in regular donations, with the beneficiaries expanding from disaster victims and financially difficult groups to the needy in health, education and social welfare fields. The Spring Bud Program, initiated and organized by the China Children and Teenagers' Fund and the All-China Women's Federation, has helped more than 1 million dropout schoolgirls back to school in poverty-stricken areas.

Social donations. According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, during 1996-2002, financial contributions totaled 9.49 billion yuan in the country, in addition to 966 million pieces of clothing and 10.51 billion yuan worth of other materials, benefiting 360 million people in difficulties. Social donations have become an effective supplementation to government relief. During the SARS epidemic in 2003, the value of social donations exceeded 4 billion yuan.

The year 2003 saw quite a number of serious natural disasters. During the year, 54.39 million hectares of cropland were affected by disasters, up 15.4 percent over the previous year. Of it, 32.52 million hectares were directly affected by natural disasters, up 19 percent; 8.55 million hectares failed in any crop, up 30.3 percent. Direct economic losses caused by marine disasters stood at about 8.05 billion yuan, up 22 percent over the preceding year. There were 29 earthquakes at and above Richter magnitude 5, 20 more than the previous year, including seven earthquakes at and above magnitude 6. The earthquakes resulted in 319 deaths, with direct economic losses amounting to 4.66 billion yuan.

China became noticeably more capable of handling sudden incidents of natural disasters. After years of experiences in disaster relief, a system of disaster-relief emergency response and preparedness has taken initial form, with emergency aid mechanisms basically established and disaster-relief material reserve networks further improved. Whenever a major natural disaster occurs, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and local authorities for civil affairs will take immediate actions, collecting and reporting information about the disaster, dispatching work teams at the earliest possible time, promptly allocating disaster-relief funds and transporting disaster-relief materials.

For instance, an earthquake struck Minle-Shandan area of Gansu Province on October 25, 2003. Ten hours later, the Central Government allocated funds for local purchase of clothing, food and other daily necessities, thus solving the immediate problems of disaster victims.

With respect to disaster-related information management, China has established mechanisms for the statistics, verification and reporting of sudden major natural disasters. It is explicitly stipulated that any sudden major natural disaster should be reported to the Ministry of Civil Affairs within seven hours.