XI. Population, Living Conditions and Social Security

At the end of 2008, the total number of Chinese population reached 1,328.02 million, an increase of 6.73 million over that at the end of 2007. The year 2008 saw 16.08 million births, a crude birth rate of 12.14 per thousand, and 9.35 million deaths, or a crude death rate of 7.06 per thousand. The natural growth rate was 5.08 per thousand. The sex ratio at birth was 120.56.

In 2008, the annual per capita net income of rural households was 4,761 yuan, or a real increase of 8.0 percent over the previous year when the factors of price increase were deducted. The annual per capita disposable income of urban households was 15,781 yuan, or a real increase of 8.4 percent. The proportion of expenditure on food to the total expenditure of households was 43.7 percent for rural households and 37.9 percent for urban households. According to the 2008 rural poverty line with annual per capita net income below 1,196 yuan, the population in poverty in rural areas numbered 40.07 million at the end of the year.

At the end of 2008, a total of 218.90 million people participated in basic pension program, a year-on-year increase of 17.53 million. Of this total, 165.97 million were staff and workers, and 52.93 million were retirees. A total of 316.98 million people participated in urban basic health insurance program, an increase of 93.87 million, of whom 200.48 million people participated in urban basic health insurance program for staff and workers, 116.50 million people participated in programs for residents. A total of 42.49 million people participated in urban health insurance programs were migrant workers coming from the rural areas, an increase of 11.18 million. Some 124.00 million people participated in unemployment insurance programs, an increase of 7.55 million. A total of 138.10 million people participated in work accident insurance, an increase of 16.37 million, of which 49.76 million were migrant workers coming from the rural areas, an increase of 9.96 million. A total of 91.81 million people participated in maternity insurance programs, an increase of 14.06 million. A total of 2,729 counties (cities, districts) conducted the new cooperative medical care system in rural areas, with a participation rate of 91.5 percent. The total expenditure of the new cooperative medical care system in rural areas reached 42.9 billion yuan, benefiting 370 million people. In 2008, the urban medical assistance helped 5.13 million people, up by 16.0 percent. The rural medical assistance helped 9.36 million people, up by 148.0 percent. A total of 27.80 million people were funded by the civil affairs departments in the rural cooperative medical care system.

The number of people receiving unemployment insurance payment stood at 2.61 million. A total of 23.34 million urban residents received the government minimum living allowances, or 620 thousand more than the previous year. About 42.91 million rural residents received the government minimum living allowance, an increase of 7.25 million.

Social welfare institutions of various types provided 2.35 million beds by the end of 2008, accommodating 1.89 million inmates. There were 109 thousand community service facilities and 9,871 comprehensive community service centers were set up in urban areas. A total of 60.4 billion yuan worth of social welfare lottery tickets were sold, raising 21.1 billion yuan of social welfare funds. A total of 48.2 billion yuan were received from direct donations.