Basic Safety Net

The civil affairs authorities have worked to increase welfare payments and improve grassroots governance and basic social services over the past decade, Zhan Chengfu, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, said at a press conference on September 9.

Improvement in the welfare system has not only enhanced people’s wellbeing but also contributed to social stability.

Improving welfare

China’s welfare system has provided assistance to more than 40 million people living on the minimum subsistence allowance, 5 million people living in extreme difficulties, and to homeless people more than 2.3 million times every year on average over the past 10 years.

All families with per-capita incomes lower than the subsistence allowance threshold announced by the government