Nearly 20 million low-income urban residents have been ensured from state funds for their basic living standards, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs released Tuesday.
The statistics show that only 4.02 million people nationwide received funds for their basic living standards in early 2001.
So far, China has spent 7.38 billion yuan (US$889 million) to guarantee low-income people's basic living standards, according to the ministry.
Most of the people benefiting from the special funds are low-income workers and those who have lost their jobs in China's central and western regions, old industrial bases, resource-depleted mining areas and military factories.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2002)
