A staff member of an elderly care service center guides a senior citizen on using smart devices in Dongcheng District in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 31, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Xin)
Elderly care is one of the hottest topics during the ongoing “two sessions” as the Global Times has learned that multiple lawmakers and political advisers have raised proposals to boost the silver economy and improve the elderly care service system, including promoting elderly medical services, community-based and home-based care, caregivers training and robotics development.
To actively respond to population aging, China will refine policies and mechanisms for developing elderly care programs and industries and vigorously develop the silver economy, read the 2025 China’s Government Work Report.
Jin Li, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body and Vice President of the Southern University of Science and Technology, has proposed to tap into the needs of China’s seniors to boost the silver economy, which Jin said is expected to reach around 30 trillion yuan (roughly $4.13 trillion) by 2035. The sector could create at least 100 million job opportunities by 2050.
“The needs of seniors in China are shifting from basic survival to developmental demands. They not only require daily necessities such as food, clothing and housing, but also seek healthcare and elderly care services, as well as leisure and entertainment,” Jin told the Global Times.
The National Bureau of Statistics of China revealed in a press conference on January 17 that by the end of 2024, China’s population aged 60 and above had exceeded 300 million for the first time.
CPPCC member Huang Donghong and Director of the Department of Civil Affairs in Central China’s Hunan Province pointed out that there are still many deficiencies in elderly care services today, such as urban-rural disparities, an insufficient number of care institutions, and an incomplete home-based care service system, China Internet Information Center reported.
Gan Huatian, a CPPCC member and a professor at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, is focused on promoting the high-quality development of geriatric medical services, a healthcare insurance system that suits geriatric medical services, and the construction of a community-based home care service system.
Gan proposed improving the geriatric medical service system to solve problems such as the shortage of specialized personnel in geriatric medical care, and insufficient attention to disease prevention and long-term care of the elderly. Additionally, he recommended expanding health insurance to encompass the full healthcare cycle for the elderly and exploring innovative reforms in elderly health insurance contribution policies.
Besides improving medical services for seniors, lawmakers and political advisors are focused on bettering the quality of caregivers, both real persons and robots.
Political advisor and Vice President of Guangdong Technical Normal University Xu Ling suggested more vocational schools should offer elderly care programs and train interdisciplinary talents in geriatric medicine, rehabilitation, nursing and nutrition, news service China.com reported.
Another political advisor Zhang Yunquan, who is a research fellow at the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the most urgent needs of the elderly, such as assistance with cleaning, walking and catering are exactly what elderly care robots excel at. He looks forward to including the development of such robots in the 15th Five-Year Plan, with a focus on home-based elderly care robots, so that a cluster of elderly care robot industries and technology innovation centers with global influence could be established by 2030.
“It’s necessary to leverage next-generation technologies including the IoT, big data, and AI along with mobile and wearable devices, to promote senior-friendly technological products, such as smart nursing mattresses and remote monitoring systems, enabling smart supervision of in-home care services, and establishing a unified national information platform for elderly care services,” proposed Zhou Yanfang, an NPC deputy and director of China Pacific Insurance’s strategy research center, the Economic Information Daily reported.
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