BEIJING — Local governments in China have entrusted more pension funds for investment as the country faces the challenge of an aging population, a human resource official said on July 23.

By the end of June, 14 provincial-level regions including Beijing and Shanghai had signed contracts to entrust a total of 585 billion yuan ($87 billion) in pension funds to the National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF), according to Lu Aihong, spokesperson with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Of the total, 371.65 billion yuan is already in place and has been invested, Lu told a news conference.

The ministry will continue to encourage more regions to put pension fund into investment and at the same time strengthen risk management to secure long-term and stable investment return, he said.

As a significant part of the pension reform, pension fund investment aims to tackle the challenge of an aging society and facilitate a fair and sustainable pension scheme.

Between January and June this year, the revenue of China’s pension, unemployment and occupational injury funds totaled 2.65 trillion yuan, up 19 percent year-on-year, while the total expenses stood at 2.15 trillion yuan, up 18 percent.