Purpose This paper aims to measure the operating efficiency of China’s basic pension insurance from 2014 to 2019 in 31 provinces. Methods The three-stage DEA model was used to evaluate the operating efficiency of basic pension insurance in 31 provinces. Results On the whole, the operating efficiency of China’s basic pension insurance was at a high level, but there was still room for improvement. GDP, urbanization level and scale of government public expenditure had a positive impact on the operating efficiency of regional basic pension insurance. In contrast, the old-age dependency ratio had a significant negative effect. There were noticeable regional differences in the operating efficiency of China’s basic pension insurance, which showed a pattern of Central (0.742) >Eastern (0.689) >Western (0.505) after removing the influence of environmental variables. Conclusion This study systematically analyzes the impact of external environmental regulations on China’s basic pension insurance’s operating efficiency and provides decision-making references for further improving the operating efficiency of China’s basic pension insurance. In order to further optimize the allocation of basic endowment insurance, this paper proposes the following countermeasures and suggestions: (1) broaden investment channels and improve the investment efficiency; (2) increase supervision of social security departments and strengthen information disclosure; (3) unify the management of social basic pension insurance.

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