(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-26 11:31

Beijing -- Nearly 90 percent of Chinese people are worried about how they will manage financially after they retire, a recent survey has shown.

The poll, conducted by China Youth Daily and Sina.com, involved 3,817 participants of varying ages from both urban and rural areas. As it was conducted online, it was limited to those with Internet access.

Government statistics show that 140 million people in China, 11 percent of its population, are aged 60 or above.

Twenty percent of those surveyed said they would be only be able to partly rely on a government pension, while 50 percent said they would have to support themselves. Seventy-four percent said the government should put more emphasis on providing financial support for elderly people from low-income groups.

China's One Child Policy has aggravated the situation, resulting in 60 percent of people feeling under pressure to provide financial assistance to elderly relatives.

Only ten percent want to live out their years in a retirement home, but 74 percent hope to stay home with their spouses.

"About 14 to 18 million elderly people want to live in retirement homes but there are only 1.5 million beds on offer," said Tang Jun,secretary-general of Social Policy Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

However, more than 20 percent of those beds are currently empty because people's can't afford to pay for them, he said.

Tang suggested the social security system should be divided into a basic part and supplementary part. Sponsored by state finance, the basic part will insure people's basic living standards. The supplementary part can be managed by comprehensive individual accounts and can be lent out on the mortgage and paid back in stages.