China Becomes an Aged Country, 10 Million Aged Need Care

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 16, 2002

China Becomes an Aged Country, 10 Million Aged Need Care

China has entered the aging society. According to statistics, about 10 million of the aged above 70 need to be cared for, most of which depend on their own children for support.

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China has entered the aging society. According to statistics, about 10 million of the aged above 70 need to be cared for, most of which depend on their own children for support.

A survey conducted by the China Science and Research Center on Aging showed that 98% of the urban senior citizens surveyed support themselves, and less than 2 percent are looked after by community welfare homes. Due to the severe shortage of welfare facilities, the total beds of social welfare institutions make up less than 1 percent of the elderly population.

Recently the Ministry of Civil Affairs released a survey, indicating there is an increasingly strong desire that China's urban senior citizens wish to be tended by social welfare institutions. However, the current welfare institutions are far from enough to meet the requirements of supporting the elderly.

At present, the state-run social welfare institutions number 2816, with 220,000 beds and over 170,000 inmates, while 37,000 are the collective-run social welfare institutions with over 870,000 beds and 660,000 inmates, adding up to a respective 40,000, 1.09 million and 830,000. Compared to the nation's millions of welfare targets, the beds are merely a 0.7 percent of the total, while the inmates constitute less than 0.6 percent, falling far short of a 5-7 percent in developed countries.

Beijing Hospital Aged Patient

By PD Online Staff Zhu Lizhen

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