About 80 percent of Chinese senior citizens in cities will live alone by 2010, in a country where traditionally several generations lived under the same roof.

Statistics from the China Research Center on Aging (CRCA) show that China currently has more than 23.4 million elderly who live alone, accounting for 30 percent of urban senior citizens.

In the industrial city of Tianjin in north China, the figure already exceeds 62.5 percent two years ago, CRCA said.

"The phenomena is spreading all over the country," noted Zhao Baohua, an official of the China National Committee on Aging.

Zhao acknowledged that the 80 percent of the elderly will become "empty nesters" in the next six years.

"For one thing, generation gap is widening very fast these years." said Xu Qin, a research fellow with CRCA. "Nowadays, the old and the young find it harder to compromise with each other andwould rather preserve their individuality."

Young people who want to have their own space, can simply buy an apartment and move out. This was not possible years ago, when individuals could not afford to buy a home, she said.

Xu also cited the frequent job change as another cause for the rising number of empty nesters.

"Whatever the cause, the problem at hand is these old people face financial difficulties," she said.

A survey conducted recently in Beijing shows that 93 percent ofthe empty nesters live only on their monthly pension, or an average of 786 yuan (nearly 95 US dollars). One-third lives on with less than 500 yuan (about 60 US dollars) a month. In the survey, 40 percent said they fear that they cannot afford medical treatment; 30 percent said they worry about losing financial support.

A similar survey conducted in Qingdao, a scenic resort city in east China's Shangdong province, also indicates that more than half of the empty nesters there get only 400 to 600 yuan a month. This is barely enough to sustain them in the modern coastal city.

At present, China has approximately 134 million people over theage of 60, or 10 percent of its population. The amount is growing at about three percent annually.

Source: Xinhua