Living allowance for city dwellers hits 617 yuan

The average per capita basic living allowances for urban residents in China is 617 yuan ($87) a month, statistics for the first three quarters of this year showed.

The statistics, released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Oct 24, also showed that the average per capita basic living allowance for rural residents increased by 7.4 percent to 5,247 yuan a year.

By the end of last month, there were 42.83 million residents entitled to basic living allowances and the country's expenditure on basic living allowances was 11.65 billion yuan, according to the ministry's statistics.

Zhang Weixing, spokesman for the ministry, said it had made continuous efforts to guide local authorities on policies to improve basic living allowances and to cover eligible poor people.

According to the ministry, from June to September, a total of 928,000 households with 1.85 million people who were not entitled to the basic living allowances were removed from the scheme.

Another 965,000 households with 1.85 million people who were entitled to coverage were given the allowance.