Where to Live Out Retirement

Insight China Issue No. 9, 2019

China is currently the only country in the world with an elderly population exceeding 200 million. By the end of 2018, the population aged 60 and over in China had reached 249.49 million, accounting for 17.9 percent of the total population. Among them, 166.58 million aged 65 and over, accounting for 11.9 percent of the total population. It is expected that by 2020, the population of the elderly aged over 60 will increase to about 255 million, and the elderly living alone and empty-nested elderly people will increase to about 118 million.

In the traditional concept of old-age care, having lots of children and grandchildren, being able to have access to hospital treatment when sick is a strong desire and wish of most elderly people. But in an aging society with families having only one child, the traditional familybased old-age care is encountering enormous challenges, while elderly care institutions are deterred by such problems as the shortage of professional nursing personnel, the general low level of service, and the lack of beds. Searching for reliable institutions has become a major problem for the elderly and their children.

Journalists interviewed elders in home-based, communitybased, institutional, and migratory care in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hainan, and other places, and invited experts to give analysis, endeavoring to find out the best solution to the problem of Chinese old-age care.