BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) — China is intensifying its endeavors to enhance public well-being, pledging to expand access to basic public services and address the most pressing concerns of its citizens in areas such as education, healthcare, elderly care and childcare.
Central authorities recently unveiled a set of measures targeting the most immediate and tangible issues affecting people’s lives.
While China has made historic progress in improving public welfare over the past decade or so, such as lifting nearly 100 million rural residents out of poverty and building the world’s largest social security system, more efforts should be made to address the imbalances and gaps in public service delivery, Xiao Weiming, deputy secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference on Tuesday.
Xiao highlighted the need for further progress as the country advances Chinese modernization — ensuring development benefits reach all people more fairly.
“Tackling an aging population, declining birth rates and diverse employment patterns also requires us to make public services more accessible and inclusive,” he said.
According to an official document, China will expand social security coverage, with particular support for low-income populations, and ensure that all citizens, regardless of region or group, can enjoy equal access to basic public services.
Key initiatives include setting up a childcare subsidy system, promoting inclusive childcare services in major cities with a target of 80-percent community-level coverage, accelerating the establishment of a new batch of high-quality compulsory education schools, and ensuring the share of nursing beds in newly-built elderly care institutions is no less than 80 percent.
The government will make sure that no residency restrictions will prevent people in flexible employment from enrolling in local social insurance programs, and will launch targeted programs to improve the incomes of China’s rural population.
A notable feature is a clear tilt toward vulnerable groups — such as the country’s vast population of migrant workers. As of the end of last year, more than 130 million rural migrants were living in urban areas. Access to education, social insurance and housing are top concerns for such workers.
Xiao said that city-specific policies will be implemented in high-inflow urban centers to grant eligible migrant workers the same rights as local residents.
To ensure the successful rollout of these measures, China has pledged substantial increases in fiscal spending.
Ge Zhihao, an official with the Ministry of Finance, said at the same press conference that 2025 budget funds for education, as well as social security and employment, will each approach 4.5 trillion yuan (about 626.39 billion U.S. dollars), representing year-on-year increases of 6.1 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, while healthcare spending will also see significant increases.
Moreover, central budget investment in social programs is set to rise by over 30 percent this year compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), according to Xiao. ■
