BEIJING -- China's central government is spending more on helping low-income people, rural residents with poor living conditions as well as vagrants and beggars, the Ministry of Finance has said.

Altogether, 87.5 billion yuan ($14 billion) was earmarked from the central coffers as subsistence allowances for the needy in cities and the countryside in 2012, up 16.8 percent year-on-year, according to MOF data.

Around 44.6 billion yuan was allocated to help 5.6 million rural families renovate their dilapidated houses last year, the expense 163.7 percent higher than that in 2011.

The central government also spent 2 billion yuan in aiding vagrants and beggars, doubling the amount of 2011.

Meanwhile, 11.6 billion yuan was granted as relief funds for 75 million people affected by natural disasters and 2.4 billion yuan was used to support more than 600,000 orphans, according to the MOF.