Full text: The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution(9)

. Promoting Social Development

China pursues shared development and common prosperity for all people as its development goals.

Over the years, China has been committed to developing various social undertakings, establishing and improving various types of social security and social service systems, and continuously improving the provision of social security. It has striven to provide effective social resources and promote equal access to education so that all share the fruits of development.

Protection of the right to health has significantly increased. The infant mortality rate has dropped from 20 percent in 1949, when the PRC was founded, to 0.81 percent in 2015, and the maternal mortality rate has dropped from 1,500 per 100,000 to 20.1 per 100,000. From 1978 to 2015, total national expenditure on health increased from RMB11.02 billion to RMB4.10 trillion, of which government expenditure on health increased from RMB3.54 billion to RMB1.25 trillion. Per capita health expenditure increased from RMB11.5 to RMB2,980.8, the number of medical and health institutions grew from 169,732 to 983,528, and the total number of health workers increased from 7,883,000 to 10,693,900. In 2015, the number of community medical and health service centers reached 361,000, with the coverage of 52.9 percent. The number of beds in social service institutions with accommodation increased from 828,000 in 1991 to 7,329,000 in 2015, of which beds for the elderly increased from 783,000 to 6,727,000, and those for children increased from 7,000 to 100,000. From 1988 to 2015 the government carried out a key state rehabilitation campaign, offering rehabilitation services for 27.98 million people with disabilities. By the end of 2015 there were 7,111 rehabilitation institutions for disabled persons, which employed 192,000 professionals, and 6,352 nursing agencies offering services to persons with learning, mental and physical disabilities, 2,323 more than the figure in 2010. In October 2016 China published the "Outline of Healthy China 2030" program, advocating that all people make fitness activities part of their life.

A security system covering the whole of society has taken shape. China has established a unified basic old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents throughout the country, and formulated policies to allow workers, and especially rural migrant workers, to participate in basic pension insurance for urban workers and for urban and rural residents. In 2015, 858 million people were covered by the basic pension insurance scheme, and 148 million urban and rural residents were receiving pensions. By the end of 2015 China had established a medical insurance system covering all citizens. The basic medical insurance for urban workers, basic medical insurance for urban residents, and the new rural cooperative medical insurance cover a total of 1,336 million people, keeping the insured rate above 95 percent. The reimbursement rate of hospitalization expenses for workers within the scope of the basic medical insurance exceeded 80 percent, with an increased maximum payment of six times the average annual salary of local workers, and the rate for urban residents within the coverage of the basic medical insurance was around 70 percent, an increase to six times the per capita disposable income of local residents. The reimbursement rates of hospitalization expenses for rural residents within the scope of the new rural cooperative insurance was above 75 percent. From 1994 to 2015, the number of people covered by unemployment insurance increased from 79.68 million to 176.09 million. In 2015, the revenues of the unemployment insurance fund reached RMB136.46 billion, and the expenditure was RMB73.65 billion, and the average monthly payment to the unemployed was increased to RMB968.4. The framework of a work-related injury insurance system involving work injury prevention, compensation, and rehabilitation has been established, which has seen the number of insured growing from 18.22 million in 1994 to 214.32 million in 2015. The number of women covered by the maternity insurance program increased from 9.16 million to 177.71 million.

Social assistance efforts continue to increase. In 1997, the Chinese government began to establish a nationwide system of basic living allowances. It promulgated the Regulations on Guaranteeing Basic Living Allowances for Urban Residents in 1999 and the Interim Measures for Social Assistance in 2014, to ensure all citizens have equal access to social assistance. From 1996 to 2015, the number of urban residents covered by the system of basic living allowances increased from 849,000 to 17.01 million, and, from 1999 to 2015, coverage of rural residents grew from 2.66 million to 49.04 million. The government continues to raise the basic living allowances. In 2011, it formally established a dynamic adjustment mechanism for basic living allowances. In 2015, the average basic living allowance line for urban residents was RMB451 per person per month, and the average monthly subsidy each person received from the government was RMB317. The average basic living allowance line for rural residents was RMB265 per person per month, and the average per capita monthly subsidy provided by the government was RMB147.

China has formulated a series of disaster prevention and relief plans and regulations, gradually strengthening and standardizing disaster relief work. From 2009 to 2015, the central government allocated RMB69.46 billion as natural disaster relief funds, averagely RMB9.9 billion for each year. In 2015, China provided medical assistance to 95.24 million people at a cost of RMB29.85 billion. The government also provides temporary relief to people who suffer sudden, urgent or temporary difficulties when other social assistance systems cannot cover them at the time, or people who still lack basic necessities after receiving assistance. In 2015, 6.67 million households received temporary relief. The industrial safety and emergency rescue system has been continuously improved. Altogether 32 provincial and 316 municipal emergency rescue centers, and 964 emergency rescue bases and teams have been established nationwide, covering coal, non-coal mines, chemicals, and other key industries. In 2015, they took part in 12,438 missions and rescued 44,344 people. (mo