BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- China used 11.5 percent of its annual fiscal expenditure for social security purposes last year, double the 5.52 percent in 1998, according to Vice Finance Minister Wang Jun.

    The Ministry of Finance earmarked 436.2 billion yuan (58.2 billion U.S. dollars) for social security undertakings in 2006, up from 59.6 billion yuan in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 28.3percent on average, Wang said at a recent forum on social security.

    Of the total, 147.5 billion yuan was used for the laid-off from state owned enterprises, retirees, low income earners and job hunters, 11.3 times the 1998 level, and 132 billion yuan went to health and medical care projects, up from 41.4 billion yuan in 1998.

    In 2007, the ministry set aside 11.4 billion yuan for the new cooperative medical care system for rural areas, up from 400 million yuan in 2003, according to Wang.