Community-based elderly care services in China: an analysis based on the 2018 wave of the CLHLS Survey

Abstract

Community-based elderly care services play an important role in dealing with population aging. Based data from the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, we found that overall there was high demand for community-based elderly care services, but insufficient supply, resulting in unmet needs. The greatest demand was for medical care and nursing services and these were generally more accessible compared to other services. The imbalance between available supply and elderly demand was greatest for personal care and psychological consulting services. Additionally, there were obvious imbalances of supply and demand for particular groups of the elderly population. In terms of demand, the young-old living in eastern and western China or urban areas had stronger demand for community-based elderly care services. Elderly people with serious disabilities or low income, or living in rural areas and towns had more demand for home visit medical services, while the elderly with the ability to care for themselves or high incomes needed more social and entertainment services. With respect to inadequate supply, the demands for community-based elderly care services of the low-income elderly living in rural areas and towns or in western China were more likely to be unmet. Our results indicated that appropriate services should be provided by government agencies and institutions to meet the needs of various groups. It is also important to increase accessibility to community-based elderly care services as well as to guarantee an equitable distribution of supply.