Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang has called for a greater effort and more investment to improve "the social security system with Chinese characteristics".

Zhang made the remarks during a social security forum in Beijing on Thursday, saying more attention should be given to the building of a social security system that would offer universal coverage by 2020.

Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, who also attended the forum, said China would face an increasingly severe situation of an aging population, with one in four people aged 60 or above by 2050.

China now has about 150 million people aged 60 or above, 11.6 percent of the population.

Zhang urged more financial support to the sector, especially for the improvement of the social security system in rural areas, the old-age pension system for urban residents and the medical insurance system.

Further efforts should be made to improve welfare policies and measures to allow the social security network to cover both urban and rural residents, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2008)