(File photo: VCG)

Twenty-three cities and provinces in China will increase basic retirement pensions this year, Economic Information Daily reported on Tuesday. 

Fifteen will start to adopt the new pension standard by the end of July, with the average increase of five percent more than last year. 

The basic old-age insurance system in China can be divided into three categories according to the type of population covered: employees of enterprises, personnel of government institutions and urban and rural residents. 

Among the twenty three provinces, four provinces——Henan, Qinghai, Tianjin and Tibet—have separately raised the quota of basic pensions for urban and rural residents, and fourteen provinces, including Liaoning and Shaanxi, have raised the retirement pension quota of enterprise employees alone. In addition, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian have increased the basic pensions for urban and rural residents as well as the retirement pension quota of enterprise employees.

Among the provinces where the basic pension for urban and rural residents has been raised, Beijing ranks first, with an increase of 95 yuan ($13.80) per person per month.

As for the pension adjustment for enterprise retirees, a combination of quota, linkage and tilt adjustment is adopted.

Among 23 provinces, the increase range of enterprise retirees’ pension quota is between 25-70 yuan ($3.63-$10.17). 

Han Keqing, a professor at the Labor and Human Resources School of Renmin University of China, pointed out in an interview that the pension increase in many provinces, on the one hand, illustrates the good momentum of economic development, and on the other hand, shows that the government's financial support for people's livelihood is growing.

Given the various increases in provinces, Su Hainan, a researcher of the China Association for Labour Studies, said that there are great differences in economic development, price, income and social security treatment levels in eastern, central and western regions of China. 

Most provinces, like Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Shanghai, have stipulated that retirement pensions for the elderly and retirees in poverty-stricken areas can be increased a little more than others.

And the pensions will be reissued from January 1, 2019. Most provinces, including Shanxi, Henan, Guangdong, are expected to complete the distribution of pensions by the end of July. Provinces like Hubei plan to complete the pension payments by the end of August.

Aiming at the heated discussion on the internet——it is likely that post-80s generation cannot draw pensions for it will be used up by 2035—Nie Mingjun, director of the Department of Endowment Insurance of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said in April that the state has formulated a series of positive, comprehensive and scientific countermeasures, guaranteeing the long-term, timely and full payment of pensions and the healthy and stable operation of the system.

On July 9, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reiterated that it is prepared to mitigate future payment risks and that the sustainable development of the system could be guaranteed. 

(Compiled by Cui Chunhui)