As a "commonplace" topic, pension is not only the focus of attention of nearly 140 million (data at the end of 2022) retirees from enterprises and institutions nationwide and nearly 170 million urban and rural residents who actually receive basic pension insurance, but also an important issue involving people's livelihood in the field of social security.
According to the current basic old-age insurance system, the pension is an economic guarantee for the elderly aged 60 and above to maintain the basic living standard, and its treatment level can be said to directly determine the quality of life of the nearly 297 million elderly population in the country to a large extent.
Generally speaking, the higher the level of basic pension treatment, whether it is retirees of enterprises and institutions or urban and rural residents, they can maintain the most basic standard of living after the age of 60 and after without declining; on the contrary, the lower the level of pension treatment, the basic standard of living after the age of 60 may drop significantly, and there is no way to talk about the old people having support, the old people have something to rely on, and the old people are happy and afraid.
The composition of peasants' "pensions" and the method of calculating and distributing them
As we all know, at this stage, there are two sets of basic old-age insurance systems in parallel in the mainland, and residents who have not participated in the basic old-age insurance for urban workers can voluntarily choose to participate in the basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents, and enjoy the "retirement treatment" after the cumulative insurance payment has been completed for 15 years and the age of 60 is reached, and they can apply for the basic pension on a monthly basis in accordance with laws and regulations.
The basic pension benefits enjoyed by rural residents aged 60 and above mainly include two parts, namely the basic pension and personal account accounts. Among them, the basic pension is determined by the central and local standards and paid in full to the insured who meet the conditions for receiving it, that is, it is composed of two parts: the central basic pension and the local basic pension;
The monthly per capita basic pension level of urban and rural residents
For a long time, the low level of basic pension has been criticized by the majority of urban and rural residents. Although the current basic old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents also follows the basic principle of paying more and getting more and paying for a long time, the vast majority of farmers who participate in the basic old-age insurance cannot afford to pay several thousand yuan a year. In this context, the average monthly basic pension level of urban and rural residents is only about 200 yuan.
Referring to the National Statistical Yearbook (2023), the data disclosed in it shows that in 2022, the number of people who actually received benefits from the basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents in mainland China was 164.642 million;
Referring to the "2022 National Social Insurance Fund Expenditure Final Statement", the data disclosed in it shows that the expenditure of the basic pension insurance fund for urban and rural residents at the basic pension level in 2022 is 395.091 billion yuan (of which the basic pension expenditure is 341.729 billion yuan; the personal account pension expenditure is 53.362 billion yuan).
From these two data, we can calculate that the monthly per capita basic pension level of the actual recipients of the basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents in 2022 is 199.97 yuan, which is only 200 yuan per capita per month after rounding.
What pension subsidies are available to farmers aged 70 and above?
There is no doubt that according to the current average consumer price index of the rural area as a whole, the monthly per capita pension of 200 yuan cannot meet the growing basic old-age security needs of the elderly aged 60 and above. No, in order to avoid more and more rural residents falling into the old-age crisis, and at the same time, in order to allow farmers aged 70 and above to enjoy adequate economic security, in recent years, the state has continuously reformed and improved the basic old-age insurance system, and further improved the subsidy standards in the following three aspects.
(1) Basic pension
According to the policy, the pension of the actual recipients of the basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents mainly includes two parts, namely the basic pension mentioned above and the personal account pension. Among them, the level of pension treatment in personal accounts mainly depends on the level of payment and the length of the payment period chosen by the insured residents, while the level of basic pension treatment mainly depends on the formulation of standards for central basic pension and local basic pension.
It is reported that in the government work report released by the State Council on March 5, it is clear that the minimum monthly payment standard for basic pensions for urban and rural residents will be increased by 20 yuan in 2024. Prior to this, the minimum standard for the basic pension of urban and rural residents stipulated by the state was 98 yuan per person per month. After this increase, the minimum payment standard of the central government's basic pension will reach 118 yuan.
In fact, the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents stipulated by many provinces and cities across the country has already been higher than this figure, for example, the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents in Henan Province in 2023 is 123 yuan/person/month, in 2023, Guizhou will raise the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents to 128 yuan per person per month, and in 2023, the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents in Hebei is 133 yuan/person/month.
It is worth mentioning that in 2024, some areas will clearly further improve the basic pension standard for urban and rural residents, such as in Changzhou, Jiangsu, where the local regulations will increase the basic pension standard of basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents to 490 yuan per month from January 1, 2024, achieving a fifteen-year consecutive increase.
(2) Old Age Allowance
It is reported that up to now, 31 provinces and municipalities across the country have established an old-age allowance system, for local residents who have reached a certain age conditions, whether they enjoy the basic old-age insurance treatment of urban workers, retirees or urban and rural residents, can apply for old-age allowance, the standard of subsidy varies from region to region.
For example, Gansu Province recently issued the "Notice on Further Improving the Payment of Old Age Allowance", which clarifies that from January 1, 2024, the old age allowance will be issued to the elderly aged 80 and above with household registration in Gansu Province. The subsidy standard is: 80~89 years old, the monthly subsidy per person is not less than 25 yuan, 90~99 years old, the monthly subsidy per person is not less than 60 yuan, and 100 years old and above, not less than 100 yuan per person per month.
In fact, many provinces and municipalities have lowered the age standard for Old Age Allowance to 70 years old. For example, in Dongguan, Guangdong, the local policy stipulates that the elderly aged 70 and above with household registration in Dongguan City can receive the living allowance for the elderly, and the specific subsidy standard is 70~79 years old, 100 yuan per person per month, 80~89 years old, 150 yuan per person per month, 90~99 years old, 250 yuan per person per month, and 100 years old and above, 550 yuan per person per month.
However, it is worth noting that different regions have different requirements for age conditions, and the corresponding subsidy standards are also different, whether the old age allowance can be applied for at the age of 70, or can be received at the age of 80 and above, which needs to be subject to local policies.
(3) Pension service subsidy
In addition to the basic pension and pension service subsidy, there is another subsidy that deserves the attention of the majority of elderly friends, that is, the pension service subsidy. It is understood that the subsidy standard for old-age services varies depending on the region, the type of service (such as home care, institutional care), the economic status and health status of the elderly, and other factors, mainly benefiting the elderly with low incomes, such as the urban subsistence elderly, the elderly in extreme poverty, the elderly in lonely families, and so on.
Taking Inner Mongolia as an example, the local social security department and the civil affairs department jointly issued a notice on the "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Pension Service Subsidy Fund Management Measures", which clarified the standards for pension service subsidies, specifically: the accounting base for the elderly who can take care of themselves is 100 yuan per person per month, the accounting base for the semi-disabled elderly is 200 yuan per person per month, and the accounting base for the totally disabled elderly is 300 yuan per person per month.
Another example is Shanghai, on January 8, 2024, the local government issued the "Notice on Adjusting the Subsidy Standards for Pension Services in the City", which clarifies that from February 1, 2024, the subsidy standards for pension services for those who are in difficulty at levels 1, 2 to 4, and 5 to 6 will be adjusted respectively. For example, the subsidy standard for the elderly in the first level of care will be adjusted according to the following standards: the subsidy standard for old-age service for the elderly from families with minimum living allowance will be adjusted to 1,110 yuan per person per month; for the elderly from low-income families, the subsidy standard will be adjusted to 888 yuan per person per month; and the subsidy standard will be adjusted to 555 yuan per person per month for the elderly who have reached the age of 80 and whose monthly income is lower than the average monthly pension of urban enterprises in the previous year, and so on. It is not difficult to see that after the adjustment, the subsidy standard has been raised.
epilogue
Through the above introduction in this article, it is not difficult to see that the various welfare and subsidy policies formulated and implemented by the state for the elderly in rural areas are constantly improving, such as the minimum monthly payment standard of basic pension, the living allowance for the elderly in some areas, and the subsidy standard for pension services will usher in a new adjustment in 2024. Based on this, we can basically conclude that in the future, the pension benefits enjoyed by residents aged 70 and above in our rural areas will be better and better, not only the further improvement of the subsidy standard, but also in the context of further improvement of the pension infrastructure and the improvement of the ability of the elderly service.
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