Shanghai seniors almost match Japanese on age

SHANGHAI ’s civil affairs authorities revealed the city had 13.5 centenarians per 100,000 permanent residents by the end of last year — 1,959 centenarians in total, and the average life expectancy of local citizens had reached 83.18 years last year.

Shanghai’s senior population in 2016 grew 5 percent from a year earlier, accounting for more than 31 percent of permanent residents.

The number of people aged 60 or above reached 4.58 million by the end of 2016, or 31.6 percent of permanent residents, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

The number of seniors aged between 60 and 69 years old increased sharply because of a baby boom that started in the mid-to-late 1950s, said Yin Zhigang, deputy director of the Shanghai Research Center on Aging affiliated to the bureau.

This age group accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total senior population in Shanghai by the end of last year.

Hongkou, Huangpu and Putuo districts had the highest percentage of seniors, with 35.5 percent of Hongkou’s permanent residents being seniors.

The average life expectancy of local citizens reached 83.18 years last year, compared with 82.75 in 2015. The latest figure is close to 83.7 in Japan and 83.4 in Switzerland — the two countries with the highest average life expectancy in the world. It was 80.83 for men and 85.61 for women in Shanghai.

The top three killers were circulation system diseases, cancer and respiratory system diseases, according to the center.

The center also released two reports on the senior care wishes of the elderly in Shanghai based on a survey of more than 5,300 seniors in total in nine districts.

Only 11.2 percent of Shanghai seniors said they wanted to stay at senior care homes, while 61 percent elderly surveyed said they hoped to be taken care of at home, the reports found.

“Most Shanghainese seniors are not willing to leave their homes for senior care, and the willingness to stay at home gets higher with the increase of age,” said Yin.

Chinese people had a deeply rooted family bond, and seniors might feel they were being abandoned if their children sent them to senior homes. Most want to stay at home until they die, Yin added.

The center found younger seniors were more flexible and Yin said many of them could use community day-care centers at communities and return home at night.

Of those who stay or are willing to stay at senior care agencies, 71.7 percent said they did so to avoid being a burden on their children, and 63.3 percent chose to move into a care home to receive nursing and medical treatment assistance. More leisure and entertainment activities, communication with peers and a lack of care at their own home were other reasons.

Fees, food and accommodation, and medical treatment are the key considerations for seniors when they select senior care homes.

In total, 27.3 percent of those interviewed spend 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (US$290 to US$440) a month on senior care, followed by 25 percent who spend 1,000 and 2,000 yuan per month on senior care.

Help with housework, assistance in seeking doctors, meals, psychological consultation, chatting, day care, and rehabilitation nursing are the major demands of seniors who receive community senior care services.

Seeking assistance in bathing and the need for rehabilitation nursing had grown significantly, said Yin.

More than 68 percent of Shanghai seniors said they would not accept senior care outside the city, though neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are the major destinations for 29.4 percent who chose short-time stay in other cities for senior care.