Words by Smiley Team
China is experiencing rapid ageing as life expectancy rises and, due to the one-child policy, birth rates have fallen. As a result there are more people over the age of 60 than under 15. Within the next three decades, China will have the oldest population on the planet: by 2050, 39% of Chinese people will be over 65.
China is getting old before it gets rich. At both national and provincial level, the government has embarked on a massive expansion of care provision to support family care and help people remain in their own homes.
The policy is to grow the homecare and community care market. In 15 cities, different models of long-term care insurance are being prototyped and the results will feed into a final scheme. Just one of these pilots, in Shanghai, covers a population about a third the size of the whole UK.
In the past three or four years the Chinese care sector has seen explosive growth in services from homecare to retirement communities. One example is a network of more than 200 care hubs that has been established across Shanghai.
The hubs provide social activities and connections, rehabilitation, information and advice as well as respite and early stage dementia care. Publicly funded and owned but privately operated, they are playing a key role in supporting older people in their own homes.
Original Article by Paul Burstow: Source: The Guardian
