Turning nation's aging challenge into opportunity

Yang Xiaoqi, a researcher at the China Research Center on Aging in Beijing, said it's necessary over the next five years for the government to further improve basic elderly services, including material support, nursing and care services, and to make sure they are fairly accessible.

"It's important to enhance the quality of nursing care for seniors losing their basic mobility functions due to old age or disability," Yang said. "The nation can channel more investment to add nursing care beds and to improve cognitive care at nursing homes, and to give staff members professional training to improve their working ability."

He added that the government can increase efforts to diversify categories of nursing homes and make sure more places at government-supported, affordable and commercial nursing homes are available.

Figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show that as of the end of last year, China had 406,000 elderly nursing homes and facilities nationwide, with over 7.99 million beds available. The proportion of medically equipped nursing care beds for the elderly at nursing homes rose to 65.7 percent last year, from 48 percent in 2020.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the government has renovated the homes of 2.24 million vulnerable seniors, specifically targeting high-risk households — including those living in poverty, those with chronic illnesses or disabilities, and "empty nesters" who live alone without family support.

At the same time, greater emphasis has been placed on developing senior human resources by progressively raising the statutory retirement age in the next 15 years. The aim is to encourage the retired to actively engage in voluntary activities, as well as on tightening up efforts to protect senior workers' rights.