社会保障水平稳步提高。新中国成立后，政府投入大量资金，加强新疆社会保障制度建设，已形成广覆盖、保基本、多层次的社会保障体系。2016年新疆已全面建立了城乡居民和城镇职工大病保险制度，全民免费享受人身意外伤害保险。截至2016年年底，新疆企业职工基本养老保险参保人数达到342.19万人（不含机关事业单位养老保险制度改革后增加人数），农村基本养老保险参保人数达到539.58万人，城乡居民基本养老保险参保率稳定在95%以上；城镇基本医疗保险参保人数达到687.55万人，新型农村合作医疗参合人数达到1125.75万人，失业、工伤、生育保险参保人数达738.89万人次，社会保障卡累计发放1207万张，覆盖率达到55.4%。社会保障水平不断提高，到2016年，已连续12年增加企业退休人员基本养老金和提高工伤保险待遇，连续5年提高失业保险待遇。通过完善社会保险与物价水平挂钩联动机制，及时调整缴费基数。为减轻城镇个体工商户和灵活就业人员经济负担，2014年下调了这些人员的基本养老保险最低缴费基数。制定劳动者特别是进城务工人员参加城镇职工基本养老保险制度衔接政策。新型农村社会养老保险与城镇居民社会养老保险基础养老金标准实现一致，从最初的每人每月55元提高到115元。

　　社会救助制度发挥积极作用。新中国成立伊始，新疆就建立了针对城乡贫困居民的社会救助制度。2009年至2016年，城镇和农村居民平均最低生活保障标准，分别从每人每月172元和69元提高到384元和249.5元；农村五保户供养标准，从集中供养3036元/年、分散供养2280元/年，分别提高到6936元/年和4586元/年。各类收养性社会福利单位拥有床位4.4万张，收养各类人员2.6万人。截至2016年年底，95%的乡镇（街道）设立了“一站式”救助服务窗口，累计实施临时救助17.3万户次，支出救助资金18.5亿元。2016年新疆社会福利彩票募集福利事业资金12.61亿元，主要用于扶老、救孤、助残、济困等社会公益事业。2016年投入救灾及灾后重建资金7.36亿元，救助受灾群众477.9万人次。

Social security has been improved. Once the People's Republic was founded, the government provided generous funding to reinforce Xinjiang's social security system. Now a multi-layered basic social security system with wide coverage is in place. In 2016, Xinjiang launched serious illness insurance for urban and rural residents and urban workers, and personal accident insurance was made available to all residents free of charge. By the end of 2016, each of the following goals had been achieved: A total of 3.42 million employees were covered by basic old-age insurance (excluding those who joined the plan following the reform of old-age insurance in government bodies and public institutions). A total of 5.40 million people had subscribed to rural basic old-age insurance, and the coverage of old-age insurance for urban and rural residents stood above 95 percent. The basic medical insurance system covered 6.88 million people in urban areas, and 11.26 million rural residents had joined the new rural cooperative medical care system. The total number of people participating in unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, and maternity insurance reached 7.39 million. The government had issued 12.07 million social security cards, covering 55.4 percent of Xinjiang residents. The level of social security has been improved over the years. By 2016, the basic pension benefits for enterprise retirees had been increased for 12 years in a run. Corresponding figures for work-related injury insurance benefits and unemployment insurance benefits were 12 years and 5 years, respectively. Timely adjustments have been made to the contribution basis by linking social security with price levels. To ease the burden on urban small business owners and self-employed persons, their old-age insurance contribution bases were lowered in 2014. Policies have been enacted to ensure that workers, and especially migrant workers who come to work in cities, are able to join the urban basic old-age insurance scheme. The new rural social old-age insurance system has been brought into line with urban old-age insurance in terms of benefits received, from RMB55 to RMB115 per person per month.

The social assistance system is playing an active role. In Xinjiang, a social assistance system for needy urban and rural residents was established at the beginning of the PRC. Between 2009 and 2016, the monthly subsistence allowance for urban residents increased from RMB172 per capita to RMB384 per capita, while that of rural residents rose from RMB69 to RMB249.5. For rural households enjoying the "five guarantees" (access to proper food, clothing, medical care, housing and funeral/educational expenses), subsidies for those living in nursing homes increased from RMB3,036 to RMB6,936 per year, and the subsidies for those living at home grew from RMB2,280 to RMB4,586 per year. Social welfare institutions of various types had 44,000 beds and 26,000 persons are under their care. By the end of 2016, 95 percent of villages, townships, and urban communities had opened "one-stop" assistance offices, spending RMB1.85 billion to help 173,000 households in need. In 2016 Xinjiang's social welfare lotteries raised funds to the value of RMB1.26 billion, which were mainly spent on supporting the elderly, orphans, persons with disabilities, and people in need. In the same year a total of RMB736 million was allocated for disaster relief and reconstruction, providing assistance to 4.78 million victims of natural disasters.