UN urges China to improve rural services

A report by the UN Development Program said China should move more quickly to provide rural areas with better education, health, social security and employment services in order to sustain economic growth, AP reported. The release of the China Human Development Report comes as local governments decide how to spend the first tranche of the country’s US$586 billion stimulus package. The report says large disparities between China’s rural and urban areas remain, citing China’s lack of insurance for the elderly, unemployed and injured in rural areas. On education, the funding gap between China’s regions also remains large. The average public funding rate per student for primary and junior middle schools in Shanghai was about 10 times that of central Henan province, which had the lowest figures in the country, the report said.