The ministry said some 5.45 million urban dwellers in the country whose average monthly income is below the official bottom-line of 152 yuan (US$18.3) are not yet covered by the Basic Living Guarantee System.

To meet this target on time, the recent notice issued by the ministry urges governments at various levels to take specific measures.

Provinces where the number of uncovered but qualified people surpasses 500,000 include Jilin and Hunan. Some 300,000-500,000 urban dwellers, who qualify for help, are in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hubei, Henan and Jiangxi as well as in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Provinces where a population of 100,000-300,000 qualify are Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Anhui, Shandong and Hebei.

Of China's total 19.38 million urban dwellers who qualify for the basic living subsidy, some 13.93 million have already been covered.

By the end of May, Beijing had allocated 4.6 billion yuan (about US$554.2 million) as a fallback fund for local governments to set up the benefit system.

Meanwhile, some 5.9 billion yuan (about US$711 million) were also allocated from local financing this year.

( June 12, 2002)