The large gap among old-age insurance recipients in urban areas is a growing concern, because the country is rapidly graying, with the aged population's size expected to peak in the 2030s.

In 2001, Liaoning province became the site of the first experimental old-age insurance reform, and pilot projects were introduced nationwide from 2005.

The aim in establishing provincial universal old-age insurance is to move closer to a national universal system sometime between 2015 and 2020, Zheng Gongcheng, a NPC deputy and a leading researcher of social security and welfare, said.

"We need to establish a national and multi-level basic old-age insurance system marked by sustainable development, rather than having individual and separate systems in different provinces."

Last year, the number of people under the basic old-age insurance scheme rose to more than 201 million, about 75 percent of city employees, excluding self-employed or individual workers.

The number is 54 million more than that of 2002.

Lu Quan, a researcher at Renmin University of China, said that to achieve equal old-age insurance throughout one province will raise the level of the retirees from less developed areas and provinces, and various levels of fund reserves can balance and support one another.

As a result, the fair distribution of old-age insurance funds in various provinces will guarantee a balanced old-age insurance system, a smooth money flow and sustainable development, Lu said.

(China Daily March 18, 2008)