NEW DELHI, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - Housewife Gangotri's family earns less than 100 dollars a month, but officials have told her she no longer counts among India's poor, and will not be eligible for subsidised food.

Her mason husband earns about 45 dollars a month, but the household income went up after her son started earning as well -- thus denying them access to state benefits.

BERLIN, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Payments to German pensioners and low-income workers will rise, the government said Tuesday in a sign Berlin's budgetary restraint may be slipping.

Over 20 million retirees will see their monthly pension checks grow 13.05 euros (20.50 dollars), a 1.1 percent increase, from July 1.

STOCKHOLM, April 6, 2008 (AFP) - A wave of liberal reforms has swept across Sweden since the centre-right government came to power in 2006, notably with the sale last week of the state's crown jewel Absolut vodka, but the welfare state is still alive and kicking, analysts insist.

BEIJING, March 5, 2008 (AFP) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced big budget increases for health, education and welfare on Wednesday, in an effort to reduce growing inequality across the country.

BUDAPEST, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Hungary's national healthcare system will next year undergo a massive shake-up that will allow in private insurance companies for the first time, the government said Tuesday.

Under a new regionalised system, agreed by the coalition Socialist and Free Democratic parties, the former national healthcare fund will be replaced by 22 separate funds, each responsible for a different county, health minister Agnes Horvath said.

The capital Budapest will have four different funds.