Vice premier presses for full coverage of pension insurance by the end of 2012

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang urged all-out efforts to ensure all urban and rural senior citizens be covered by the nation's pension scheme by the end of 2012, during an inspection tour in Beijing on Wednesday.

China has been carrying out pilot programs for old-age pension for rural residents and pension insurance for unemployed urbanites.

Zhang said that since starting two years ago, the pilot programs have gotten well underway, registering 300 million rural and urban participants, which covers 60 percent of the targeted population.

Zhang called for relevant authorities to draw on the best practices from the pilot programs, insure adequate funding and put the use of funding under scrutiny, so as to achieve full-coverage of the pension insurance by the end of this year.

China is increasingly challenged by a rapidly aging population. Its population aged over 60 will grow from the current 178 million to 221 million during the 2011-2015 period, which will lift their proportion of the entire population from 13.3 percent to 16 percent.