China to introduce a new elderly care policy

Beijing. June 7. Silkroadnews - According to statistics published by the National Working Commission on Aging (NWCA), by the end of 2017, the population of China at the age of 60 years and older has reached 240 million, which means that there are only four working people per one senior person. According to cctv.com, by 2020 this figure will exceed 255 million, People’s Daily reports.
This creates a great strain on the traditional system of care for elderly people in families. Normally it is difficult for Chinese families, where spouses were born after the 1970s with the only child in their families have to take care of four senior and raise a child. Along with the aging of the population, social changes are taking place in China, such as urbanization, informatization and modernization of agriculture, making more children financially unable or having no time to take care of their parents.
To cope with the population aging issue and introduce a family support system, China is adopting a new policy of caring for the elderly.
Li Zhihong, deputy head of the Policy Research Department of the NWCA, said the commission is working on a number of goals 30 percent of all nursing care beds should be for the elderly, a proposed 90 percent of elderly people will be covered by basic pension schemes and more than 95 percent of the elderly population are to be covered by basic medical insurance.