BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China has a total of 1,217 child welfare institutions by the end of March this year, compared with less than 300 in 2008, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Friday.
About 68,000 orphans, or 22.8 percent of the country's total, are living in welfare institutions, which in total have over 100,000 beds, the ministry's child welfare department said in a statement ahead of International Children's Day that falls on Saturday.
The department said China had continuously strengthened social security for orphans and abandoned children in recent years.
The ministry has channeled 1.46 billion yuan (about 212 million U.S. dollars) of welfare lottery funds to help 163,000 orphans with disabilities receive surgery and rehabilitation services.
Starting this year, the basic living allowances given by the central government to orphans from the eastern, central and less developed western areas were raised by 50 percent, to 300 yuan, 450 yuan and 600 yuan, respectively, per person each month.
More efforts have been made to strengthen care and protection of children left behind by parents who are migrant workers and to improve social security for children in need, according to the statement.
Nearly 7 million children were left behind in rural areas by the end of 2018, about 2 million less than in 2016.
An information management system for rural left-behind children and those in need across the country has been established and registered 2.95 million children in need as of May 2019, it said.
