Seniors lead quality life
With improved elderly care, most enjoy golden years
BEIJING: The oldest person in Shanghai is age 111, and the number of centenarians rose to about 2,300 as of Sept 30, according to the latest report released by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
Shanghai is a city of longevity, with 14.9 centenarians per every 100,000 people last year.
In 1953, the city was home to just one centenarian, but the figure exceeded 1,000 in 2011 and surpassed 2,000 in 2017.
Women accounted for 75% of the centenarians while people ages 100 to 102 made up 82.9% of the total.
Fei Henian, 101, and his wife, Xu Manqian, 100, are the city’s oldest couple, who say they have a healthy lifestyle and set strict daily schedules for meals and sleeping.
As one of the cities with the most rapidly ageing populations, Shanghai is home to nearly five million people age 60 and older, accounting for 33% of its total population.
In China, by last year’s end, over 240 million people, 17.3% of the population, were age 60 or older.
The figure is expected to reach 255 million by 2020.
China has been making efforts to improve elderly care nationwide, resulting in great improvements in seniors’ health generally.
Despite disparities in income, the country’s healthcare covered more than 98% of seniors in both urban and rural areas in 2015.
A growing number of older people now care more about their spiritual lives.
They have also made their lives more colourful, contradicting the notion that older people are boring.
“Do you want to take a spur-ofthe-moment trip? Join me!” wrote Zhang Weili, 56, on WeChat, ahead of the seven-day National Day holiday early this month.
“I got quite a lot of responses from older friends,” he said. “We are classmates at a college for seniors. Convening a trip via WeChat has become very popular among us.”