Ecological Environment

Some 59.4 percent of the territory in the province is planted with trees and the per capita public green land is 9.4 square meters. The air quality in 16 cities directly administered by the province has met the second-grade national standard.

The quality of 89.5 percent of the water for drinking is very good at its source area. The water in the eight-river systems, the Grand Canal and major lakes in the province is primarily sound and the water quality of 66.4 percent of river sections meets or exceeds the third-grade ground water environment standard.

Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing have been awarded the title of "National Model City for Environmental Protection". Hangzhou in particular has also received the United Nations prize for human habitat environment and the title of "International Garden City".

In the province, there are 46 natural reserves, with 7 of them being up to the national level. Construction is under way for developing ecological demonstration zones in 38 counties (cities) in the province, in which 23 are of the national level.

Altogether 134 ecological villages (towns) have been set up. Tengtou Village and Upper Lijia Village in Ningbo, Xialu Town of Shaoxing and Shanyi Village of Xiaoshan have been awarded of the "Global Top 500" by UNEP (United Nations Environment Program).

Medical and Health Care

The condition of medical and health care in Zhejiang is steadily improving. A network of disease prevention and treatment consisting of the provincial, city and county levels as well as the health care network for urban and rural residents have been further strengthened.

In the province, there are 10,528 health organizations with 119,000 hospital beds and 162,000 medical personnel, among whom 74,000 are doctors. Community health care service in both urban and rural areas, which is developing with marked progress.

In 2002, there were 1,937 welfare institutes and senior citizen's homes with 70,000 beds. In addition, there were 21,000 urban community service facilities as well. The average life expectance for men and women is 72.8 and 77.1 years respectively.

Social Security

The social security system in Zhejiang has been improving steadily . The subsistence allowance for workers laid off from state-owned enterprises and pension for retirees have been paid in full through the socialized insurance system.

Both the pension level and the participation rate of workers in medical insurance are among the highest figures in the country. Zhejiang was one of the first provinces to implement a combined minimum subsistence allowance system covering both urban and rural areas and the first to institute such a system backed with provincial government regulations in the form of "Methods for Guaranteeing Subsistence Allowance in Zhejiang". In 2002, 406,200 people in the province were covered by the minimum allowance system.

Housing

Housing conditions have improved consistently. About 90 percent of urban residents have their own housing property and their per capita living space has increased to 21 square meters, For rural residents, not only has their per capita living space risen to 49.5 square meters from 47.82 square meters in the previous year, but the quality of their houses has improved too. More and more people are buying houses with bank loans.

Income and Consumption

In 2002, the average per capita disposable income for urban residents in Zhejiang was 11,716 yuan and the average per capita net income for rural residents was 4,940 yuan, with an increase of 13.4 percent and 8.4 percent respectively.

In both cases, the figures were the third highest in the country. The increase of income has continued to improve the living standard of the citizens.

The Engel coefficient for urban and rural residents has both dropped to 37.9 percent and 40.8 percent respectively. In 2002, the average spending of urban residents was 8,713 yuan, and that of rural residents 3,693 yuan.

A marked change has taken place in the consumption structure, with the ratio of expenditure rapidly rising in transportation, telecommunications, culture, education, recreation, entertainment and travel.

High-grade electrical home appliances for entertainment and comfort purposes have greatly increased.

In urban areas, for every 100 homes, there are on average 29.6 computers and more than 90 mobile phones. The development of transportation and telecommunication facilities has shortened the physical distance among the people and changed ways of human communication.

The number of car-buying households is increasing quickly. The flourishing community culture and square culture have enriched the colorful life of urban and rural residents in their spare time.

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