Pressure on care for the elderly is increasing

The number of people above 60 reached 160 million at the end of 2008, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, citing Wang Suying, a senior official at the civil affairs ministry.

That is 12.3 percent of the country's total population of 1.3 billion.

Wang said China was facing a 'grave trend' of an ageing population while the nation's care services for the elderly were 'severely insufficient' and 'far from meeting demand,' according to Xinhua.

The country currently has only 2.5 million beds in rest homes, while an estimated eight million elderly people were seeking accommodation in such facilities, the report said.

About 10 million nurses and specialists are needed to look after those who cannot take care of themselves, while care facilities for the aged had only 220,000 employees, 90 percent of whom were under-qualified, it said.

Beijing resident Wang Bing, for example, was turned away by four nursing homes when he was looking for one for his 69-year-old diabetic mother last year, China Daily reported.

One of the homes put the elderly Mrs. Wang on its waiting list, 'but I don't know how long it will take before it will be our turn,' Mr. Wang, a driver, said.

Ageing is a long-term trend affecting more and more countries of the world, but China faces the unusual situation of growing old before it grows rich, partly due to the government's strict one-child policy and changing cultural norms.

The country's total fertility rate was estimated at 2.2 in 1990, 1.8 in 1995 and lower than 1.6 since 2000, the United States Census Bureau said in a report released last month.

China will be overtaken by India as the world's most populous nation in 2025, the bureau said.

And in 2026, the Chinese population is projected to peak at slightly under 1.4 billion, both earlier and at a lower level than previously projected.

Even as fewer babies are born, better nutrition and improved health care help Chinese to live longer lives. Average life expectancy is now 74, 25 years higher than it was 50 years ago.

'These changes in China's age structure may affect its economic growth and competitiveness in the world market,' said Daniel Goodkind, a demographer in the bureau's population division.

Yet the retirement age has remained at the same low level: 55 for men and 50 for women, and five years more for white-collar workers.

In reality, people stop working on average at 51.2 years old, 10 years younger than that of other countries. Only about a third of the population is covered by any kind of pension scheme.

The central government last year set out its plan for a comprehensive reform to build a 'safe, effective, convenient and affordable' health care system by 2020. Over the next three years, it intends to spend 850 billion yuan.

The local authorities have also tried to beef up their elderly care services.

In Beijing, for example, the city government began developing community-based elderly service centers in 2006, according to China Daily. Usually located in or near residential quarters, the centers assist the elderly with tasks such as cleaning, cooking and shopping, in addition to delivering meals and mail, and providing basic health care.

The authorities also plan to increase the number of nursing home beds from 39,000 to 68,000 this year, to accommodate 3 percent of the aged population.

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