About 218.91 million Chinese were covered by an urban basic pension insurance system at the end of 2008, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Thursday.

That's about 17.54 million more than in 2007, the ministry said.

Urban basic medical insurance covered 318.22 million people in 2008, up 95.11 million from the previous year, the ministry said.

The urban basic medical insurance and pension systems are part of China's preliminary social security system, which also includes work injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance.

The unemployment insurance system covered 124 million people last year, up 7.55 million from 2007. The work injury insurance system covered 137.87 million people in 2008, up 16.14 million year on year, the ministry said.

Maternity insurance covered 92.54 million people, up 14.79 million from 2007, the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2009)