Evaluation of the Quality of the Age-Friendly Environment in Liaoning Province

Abstract

The age friendliness of an environment is significant for improving the quality of life of the elderly. This metric is an important measure used by the international community to address the challenges of population aging. In order to explore effective ways to improve the quality of an age-friendly environment, this study considers the theoretical framework of the World Health Organization and combines China’s demographic and policy conditions to develop an urban-scale indicator system for the evaluation of the age-friendly environment (AFE) by including the dimensions of social and physical environments and municipal services. The entropy method and multiple linear regression were used to study the changes and influencing factors of the quality of AFE in 14 prefecture-level cities in Liaoning Province. The research results are as follows. First, temporally, the comprehensive quality of AFE in the cities in Liaoning Province was at a relatively low level, and the overall trend was decreasing. During the evaluation period, the level of age friendliness in various cities was generally low, with a relatively small number of cities scoring higher. Second, spatially, significant regional differences in the age friendliness of the environment existed, which showed spatial patterns of “high in the middle and low on both sides” and “strong in the south and weak in the north”. Third, the dimensions were in the order of physical environment > municipal services > social environment. The social environment was weak for the construction of AFEs in Liaoning Province, and efforts are required to strengthen it in the future. Fourth, aging rate was negatively correlated with the level of AFE. The positively correlated factors were in the order of expenditure for urban and rural community affairs > per capita GDP > per capita disposable income of urban residents. This study provides insights for cities to improve the quality of AFEs, actively respond to population aging, and help promote WHO initiatives in developing countries.