Fujian is raising the minimum monthly pension from 55 yuan ($9.09) per month to 70 yuan, fjsen.com reported, and organizations around the province have made plans to make sure that pensioners will receive the funds before the Spring Festival.

A total of nearly 3,700,000 rural and urban residents are set to benefit from the move, and 88 counties have already paid the pensions, with 84 complying with the new law. The other four counties will pay out the new amount next February, and make up the difference concerning the payment of January.

The extra funds are expected to come from fiscal subsidies, with 1.24 billion yuan from the central government, 1.39 billion from the Fujian provincial government and 0.91 billion yuan from the city and county governments.

A total of 14,671,600 residents - 96.8 percent of the total population of Fujian - are covered by the insurance program.

By Wang Yifei and edited by Niva Whyman