Description:
Although average incomes in China have
risen dramatically since the 1980s, concerns are increasing
that the rural elderly have not benefited from growth to the
same extent as younger people and the urban elderly.
Concerns about welfare of the rural elderly combine spatial
and demographic issues. Large gaps exist between conditions
in coastal and interior regions and between conditions in
urban and rural areas of the country. In addition to
differences in income by geography, considerable differences
exist across demographic groups in the level of coverage by
safety nets, in the benefits received through the social
welfare system, and in the risks of falling into poverty.
This book aims to do two things: first, it provides detailed
empirical analysis of the welfare and living conditions of
the rural elderly since the early 1990s in the context of
large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and second, it
explores the evolution of the rural pension system in China
over the past two decades and raises a number of issues on
its current implementation and future directions. Although
the two sections of the book are distinct in analytical
terms, they are closely linked in policy terms: the first
section demonstrates in several ways a rationale for greater
public intervention in the welfare of the rural elderly, and
the second documents the response of policy to date and
options to consider for deepening the coverage and effects
of the rural pension system over the longer term.