Old-age insurance is a social insurance system in which workers are provided with material help to ensure their basic living needs after reaching the retirement age stipulated by the state and quitting the social labor field. Endowment insurance is the most important part of society.

the earliest social insurance for the aged originated in France. In 1669, France enacted the "Annuity Code", which stipulated that old seafarers who could not continue to work at sea should be given pensions. The modern pension insurance law first appeared in Germany. On May 24th, 1889, the German Parliament passed the Law on Social Insurance for Old Age Security, which came into effect on January 1st, 1891. After Germany, western countries have successively established pension insurance systems. Some developing countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Myanmar and Thailand, have also established different levels of old-age insurance systems. The International Labour Conference adopted a number of conventions and recommendations concerning old-age security.

China has established the old-age insurance system since the early days of the People's Republic of China. The Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Labor Insurance (adopted at the 73rd government meeting of the State Council on February 23, 1951) laid the foundation for the endowment insurance for enterprise employees in China. Since then, some adjustments have been made. After ten years of turmoil, the State Council formulated a number of supplementary and revised provisions concerning old-age insurance, such as the Interim Measures of the State Council on Retirement and Resignation of Workers (approved in principle at the second session of the Fifth the NPC Standing Committee Conference on May 24, 1978). Since the mid-198s, China's old-age insurance system has entered the stage of reform. the State Council and its functional departments have issued or forwarded documents related to the reform of old-age insurance, such as the Notice of the Ministry of Labor on Strengthening the Collection and Management of Old-age Insurance Funds (October 18, 199).

China's current old-age insurance system is in the transition stage to a unified old-age insurance system for enterprise employees. Rural endowment insurance is still under exploration. There are still many problems in old-age social insurance, and the old-age insurance system needs to be further improved.

1. China's old-age insurance system can be divided into two subsystems: urban and rural. Through the following administrative regulations and rules, we can have a basic understanding of the current urban and rural endowment insurance system.

(I) Old-age insurance system for employees in urban enterprises

1. the State Council's Decision on the Reform of Old-age Insurance System for Employees in Enterprises

The Decision was made on June 26th, 1991. There are 12 items in the Decision, which stipulate: (1) The goal of the reform is to establish a system that combines basic old-age insurance with enterprise supplementary old-age insurance and employee personal savings old-age insurance. The reform of old-age insurance is completely covered by the state and enterprises, and the burden is shared by the state, enterprises and individuals, and individual employees have to pay a certain fee. (2) The basic old-age insurance fund is raised by the government according to the actual needs of paying expenses and the affordability of enterprises and employees, and in accordance with the principle of fixed income, slight balance and partial accumulation. (3) The basic old-age insurance premiums paid by enterprises and individual employees are recorded in the Employee Old-age Insurance Manual. The employee's individual payment standard may not exceed 3% of his standard salary at the beginning. (4) The basic old-age insurance premium paid by enterprises and individual employees shall be transferred to the "special account of old-age insurance fund" opened by social insurance institutions in the bank, and special savings shall be made for special purposes, and no unit or individual may use it without authorization. (5) Local governments set up pension fund committees to guide and supervise the management of pension funds. (6) The state makes appropriate adjustments to the basic old-age pension according to the growth of the price index of urban residents' living expenses and referring to the wage growth of on-the-job employees, and the required expenses are paid from the basic old-age insurance fund. (7) In areas where the basic old-age insurance fund has not been implemented at the provincial level, we should actively create conditions for the transition from the current city and county to the provincial level. Enterprises under the central government, unless otherwise stipulated by the state, should participate in the overall planning of their regions. (8) Supplementary endowment insurance for enterprises is established by enterprises for their employees according to their own economic capacity, and the required expenses are extracted from the reward and welfare funds of enterprises' own funds. Personal savings endowment insurance is voluntarily participated by employees according to their personal income. (9) This decision applies to enterprises owned by the whole people. Urban collective-owned enterprises can refer to the implementation; For Chinese employees of foreign-invested enterprises, employees of urban private enterprises and individual workers, an old-age insurance system should also be gradually established. (1) The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Civil Affairs are responsible for the reform of the endowment insurance system in state organs, institutions and rural areas (including township enterprises).

2. Notice of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Old-age Insurance System for Enterprise Employees

This notice was issued in March 1995 with 11 items. The main contents of the Notice are as follows: (1) It is stipulated that the goal of the reform of the old-age insurance system for enterprise employees is to basically establish an old-age insurance system that meets the requirements of the socialist market economic system, is suitable for employees and individual workers of various enterprises in cities and towns, has multiple sources of funds, multi-level guarantee methods, combines social pooling with individual accounts, and has corresponding rights and obligations and socialized management services. The basic old-age insurance should gradually achieve a unified system, unified standards, unified management and unified adjustment and use of funds for all types of enterprises and workers. (2) It is clear that the principle of deepening the reform of enterprise employees' endowment insurance system is that the level of security is compatible with the development level of social productive forces in China and the affordability of all aspects; The combination of social mutual aid and self-protection; Combination of fairness and efficiency; Unify policies and legalize management; Administrative management and insurance fund management are separated. (3) It is stipulated that the cost of basic old-age insurance shall be shared by enterprises and individuals, and social pooling and individual accounts shall be combined, and two implementation measures shall be put forward, which shall be chosen by all localities. (4) We should implement a management system in which social insurance administration and fund management are separated, and executive agencies and supervision agencies are separated.

According to the survey data provided by the research group of the Institute of Social Development of the State Planning Commission, except Xizang Autonomous Region, 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government have formulated the pension insurance reform plan of "integrating unified accounts". Among them, seven provinces and cities of Shanghai, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Henan, Yunnan and Qinghai chose the first implementation plan, and five provinces and cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guangdong chose the second implementation plan, Hubei, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong. Hainan implements a method with local characteristics.

the basic approach of the first scheme is: the individual account is credited with 16% of the employee's individual salary income, in which all the employee's individual contributions are credited, and the rest is included in the enterprise's contributions (including the part credited with 5% of the local employee's average monthly salary), and the rest will enter the social pooling fund after the enterprise's contributions are credited to the individual account. Individual accounts bear interest according to the rate of preservation of pension funds. The hedging rate is determined according to the resident deposit interest rate of the People's Bank of China and with reference to the average wage growth rate of local employees in the previous year. When employees retire, according to the accumulated amount of their personal accounts (principal and interest) divided by 12, the pension payable is calculated and paid monthly.

the basic approach of the second scheme is that the individual account is included in all or part of the employee's individual contributions and part of the enterprise's contributions. The remaining part of the individual and enterprise contributions recorded in the individual account will enter the social pooling fund. After employees retire, their basic pension is calculated in three parts. The first part is personal account pension, which is obtained by dividing the amount stored in their personal accounts by 12; The second part is the contributory pension, which is calculated according to the length of the employee's payment salary and payment period, and the payment is calculated at 1% of the employee's average salary every full year; The third part is social pension, which is calculated at 25% of the average social wage. With the increase of individual account pension year by year, and the gradual reduction of contributory pension, the goal of combining individual account pension and social pension is finally realized.

the basic practice of the third scheme is that the personal account is recorded at about 11% of the employee's personal salary income. Among them, all employees' individual contributions are recorded, and the rest are recorded by enterprise contributions. The remaining part of the enterprise's payment will enter the social pooling fund after it is transferred into the individual account. The monthly pension consists of two parts, one is social pension, and the standard is about 25% of the average salary of local employees; The other part is personal account pension, the standard is one hundred and twentieth of the accumulated amount of personal account.

3. Decision of the State Council on Establishing a Unified Basic Old-age Insurance System for Enterprise Employees

The Decision was made on July 16, 1997, with 1 items. On the basis of clarifying the objectives, tasks and basic principles of the reform of the old-age insurance system for enterprise employees, the "Decision" stipulates the relevant policy issues of the unified system.

(1) the main points about the unified system.

the first is to unify the payment ratio between enterprises and individual employees. It is stipulated that the proportion of enterprise contributions shall generally not exceed 2% of the total wages of enterprises, and the specific proportion shall be determined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government; In 1997, the proportion of individual contributions was not less than 4% of my contribution salary, and then it increased by one percentage point every two years, eventually reaching 8%.

the second is to unify the scale of individual accounts. It is stipulated that a personal account for basic old-age insurance shall be established for each employee according to 11% of the salary I pay, and all individual contributions shall be credited to the personal account, and the rest shall be included in the enterprise contributions. With the increase in the proportion of individual contributions, the portion allocated by enterprises should be reduced to 3%. Personal account savings can be calculated at preferential interest rates. When employees are transferred, all personal accounts will be transferred with them. When an employee or retiree dies, the individual contributions in the individual account can be inherited.

the third is to unify the calculation and payment methods of basic pensions. It is stipulated that the basic pension includes two parts: the basic pension and the personal account pension. The monthly standard of the basic pension is 2% of the average monthly salary of employees in the province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government or prefecture (city) last year, and the monthly standard of the personal account pension is the amount stored in the personal account divided by 12. In order to achieve a smooth transition, a transitional pension has been stipulated for "middle-aged people" (those who joined the work before the implementation of this decision and retired after the implementation, and whose individual contributions and deemed contributions have accumulated for 15 years).

(2) On expanding the coverage of the basic old-age insurance system for enterprise employees.

The Decision emphasizes that the coverage of old-age insurance should be further expanded, and the basic old-age insurance system should be gradually extended to all enterprises and their employees in cities and towns. Individual workers in cities and towns should also gradually implement the basic old-age insurance system, and their payment ratio and treatment level shall be determined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government with reference to the spirit of this decision. In addition, the implementation of enterprise management institutions, in principle, in accordance with the enterprise pension insurance system.

(3) On perfecting the multi-level old-age insurance system.

Establishing a multi-level old-age insurance system is not only in line with China's international practice, but also a wise choice made on the basis of summarizing the practice of old-age insurance in various countries. While emphasizing the principle that basic old-age insurance can only guarantee the basic livelihood of retirees, the Decision encourages all regions and relevant departments to vigorously develop supplementary old-age insurance for enterprises under the guidance of national policies, and at the same time give play to the supplementary role of commercial insurance.

(4) On gradually improving the overall level of endowment insurance.

The Decision proposes that in order to improve the overall planning level of the basic old-age insurance fund and strengthen macro-control, it is necessary to gradually make a transition from county-level overall planning to provincial or provincial authorized regional overall planning. After the national overall planning at the provincial level is basically realized, the enterprises that were originally approved by the relevant departments and units in the State Council will participate in the social overall planning in their respective regions.

(5) On improving the management and service level of endowment insurance.

the "decision" requires that the regulations on the management of endowment insurance funds for enterprise employees should be formulated and the management of endowment insurance funds should be strengthened. The basic old-age insurance fund shall be managed by two lines of revenue and expenditure, and it shall be used exclusively for employee old-age insurance, and misappropriation and extravagance are strictly prohibited. The fund balance, except for two months' payment expenses, should be fully purchased from national bonds and deposited in special accounts, and it is strictly forbidden to invest in other financial and business undertakings. It is necessary to establish and improve the socialization level of social insurance fund management services, change the pensions currently issued by enterprises into socialized distribution as soon as possible, and actively create conditions to gradually shift the management services of retirees from enterprises to society, so as to reduce the social affairs burden of enterprises. Social insurance institutions at all levels will further strengthen fund construction, improve and perfect service and management, constantly improve work efficiency and service quality, and promote the reform of the old-age insurance system.

(II) Rural Old-age Insurance System

1. The Basic Plan of County-level Rural Social Old-age Insurance (Trial)

This plan was issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on January 3, 1992, with seven aspects: (1) Guiding ideology and basic principles. The establishment of rural social endowment insurance system should proceed from the reality of rural areas in China and aim at ensuring the basic livelihood of the elderly; Adhere to the principle of individual payment of funds, supplemented by collective subsidies, and the state gives policy support; Adhere to self-help, supplemented by mutual aid; Adhere to the combination of social pension insurance and family pension; Adhere to the direction of integration of social endowment insurance system for rural farmers, migrant workers, businessmen and other personnel. (2) the insured and the age of paying and receiving the insurance premium. The insurance target is the rural population who are not registered in cities and towns and are not supplied with commodity grain by the state; The age of paying insurance premiums is 2 to 6 regardless of gender or occupation. The age of receiving pension insurance is generally after 6 years old. (3) Raising insurance funds. On the basis of individual payment, the collective can give appropriate subsidies according to its economic situation (including national profit-making), which are accounted for under individual names respectively; The same insured unit, the insured object equally enjoy collective subsidies; The individual contributions and enterprise subsidies of the employees of township enterprises shall be recorded in individual names respectively, and individual accounts of employees shall be established. The proportion of enterprise subsidies may be decided by local governments or enterprises according to the situation. The collective subsidies of enterprises to employees and other personnel shall be paid before tax according to a certain proportion of the total wages. (4) payment standard, payment and change. The monthly payment standard is set at 1 grades (2 to 2 yuan) for different regions, towns, villages, enterprises and policyholders to choose; Endowment insurance premiums can be paid and paid in advance; Individuals and collectives can adjust the payment grade according to the provisions with the approval of the social endowment insurance management department according to the increase or decrease of income; Individuals or collectives are unable to pay old-age insurance premiums for some reason, and may temporarily suspend payment upon approval; If the applicant dies during the payment period, the individual shall pay all the principal and interest and return it to his legal heir or designated beneficiary; Pensions are paid after the age of 6, and the payment standard is determined according to the payment standard and the number of years. (5) Fund management and preservation and appreciation. The fund is managed by the county as a unit. Preserving and increasing value is mainly to buy high-interest bonds issued by the state finance and deposit them in banks, which are not directly used for investment. (6) Legislation, institutions, management and funds. According to the Basic Plan, the county (city) government formulated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Rural Social Endowment Insurance; People's governments at or above the county level shall set up rural social endowment insurance fund management committees; County (city) set up rural social endowment insurance management office (under the Civil Affairs Bureau), which is a non-profit institution, handling the specific business of rural social endowment insurance and managing endowment insurance.