What is the current state of aged care in China?

China has become the first aspiring global power that grows old before it can grow rich. And the challenges in delivering elderly services for aging population need to be tackled urgently. Based on the analysis of the status of elderly care services in China, we put forward that community-based elderly care services is the most appropriate kind of services for addressing the needs of an aging population. Moreover, in view of the challenges in delivering such services, we proposed some suggestions, such as improving relevant laws, establishing long-term care insurance system, enhancing service quality, improving service facilities, all these would lead the community-based elderly services to be utilized all over the country.

Few studies have analyzed the acceptance of home/community-based medical and elderly care services in China. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study to describe the acceptance of five services among people aged ≥ 45 years in the China mainland, and their influencing factors. The data were obtained from the database China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2018. For each service, a binary logistics regression was adopted. A total of 9719 people were included, of whom 20.12% received services. The numbers of recipients (acceptance rates) of the five services, namely, comprehensive aged care services, regular physical examinations, onsite visits, health management, and entertainment, were 107 (1.10%), 1640 (16.87%), 323 (3.32%), 156 (1.61%), and 245 (2.52%), respectively. About 4% of people had received two or more services. The elderly aged 65-74 and those who were satisfied with the local medical services had higher acceptance of services. Urban hukou having health insurance, two or more chronic diseases, provincial economic welfare, and social welfare were positively associated with the acceptance of regular physical examination services. It is suggested that the government should gradually improve satisfaction with local medical services, and pay more attention to the needs of elderly people aged 65-74 for all kinds of home/community-based medical and elderly care services.

China is now facing a trend of rapid population aging while traditional elderly care models cannot meet the needs to realize effective elderly care. The emergence of smart elderly care could alleviate the situation. However, the adoption of smart elderly care services and the use of smart elderly care products by the elderly are not widespread, and there also exists a situation where elderly individuals lack an understanding of smart elderly care services and products or are unwilling to choose or utilize them. This article conducts a comprehensive review of the adoption of smart elderly care products among Chinas aging population. Based on a large amount of literature, the analysis delves into various influencing factors, including individual differences, subjective perceptions, and objective elements. Finally, to enhance the adoption of smart elderly care services and products among Chinas elderly people, some proper measures are recommended from the perspective of improving smart elderly care services and encouraging related product use.

In 2017, the State Council of China published an action plan for the construction of a smart and healthy elderly care industry (2017–2020). The action plan designed and implemented by the State Council of China demonstrates the Central Government’s determination to informationalise and digitalise the Chinese society. Therefore, the market of smart home care services should expectedly mushroom in the coming decades, as the demand for smart home care increase. However, there are a range of barriers to achieving the massification of smart home care services, which will be discussed in the following sections. In addition to the shortage of family care and nursing services, elders being physically and psychologically vulnerable also engenders the Central Government to accelerate the provision of smart home care services to the Chinese elderly population. Here, smart home investment and delivery are necessary when building a sustainable elderly care system. The investment in smart home elderly care can lessen the long-term burden on China’s healthcare system as more elders would be able to self-manage their everyday life and minor physical and psychological problems. In this article, the author would critically analyses China’s implementation of smart home elderly care services, particularly on the benefits and challenges of technological advancement in elderly care and the advantages and problems of relevant policy development. The author also highlights how the informationalisation and digitalisation in elderly care and policy development enhance the convenience of the elderly populations’ everyday life when family care is limited or absent. Additionally, the author assesses what the gaps are in existing smart home elderly care technologies and policy development that need to be addressed by Chinese policymakers to further advance the safety and convenience of the elderly cohorts’ living.

The demand for elderly care services (DECS) in Chinese Cities is one of the most concerned issues. The aim of this study was to understand the spatial and temporal evolution and external factors of DECS in Chinese cities and support the formulation of elderly care policies. We collected Baidu Index data for 287 prefecture-level and above cities and 31 provinces in China from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2020. The Thiel Index was employed to describe the differences of DECS at different regional levels, and multiple linear regression was used to explore the external factors affecting DECS by calculating the variance inflation factor (VIF) to identify multicollinearity. The DECS of Chinese cities increased from 0.48 million in 2012 to 0.96 million in 2020, and the Thiel Index decreased from 0.5237 in 2012 to 0.2211 in 2020. Per capital GDP, number of primary beds, proportion of population aged 65 and over, number of primary care visits, and proportion of illiterate population over the age of 15 have significant influences on DECS (P < .05). DECS was on the rise in Chinese cities, with significant regional differences. At the provincial level, regional differences were influenced by level of economic development, primary care provision, aging population, educational attainment, and health status. It is suggested to pay more attention to DECS in small and medium-sized cities or regions, to strengthen primary care, and to improve the health literacy and health status of the elderly population.

Objectives: With the accelerated aging of Chinese society, the demand for high-quality care services for the elderly population is rapidly increasing. In response, the Chinese government promotes the construction of home- and community-based elderly care (HCBEC) systems, which significantly influence the life satisfaction (LS) of this group. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the accessibility of HCBEC and LS of the elderly population in China and further examined the underlying mechanisms. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) using an ordered logit model. Results: HCBEC significantly enhanced the LS of the elderly population, with more pronounced positive effects observed among females, unmarried persons, rural dwellers, and those with chronic diseases or physical disabilities. These services also increase their satisfaction by enhancing accessibility to anticipated care and medical services. Conclusions: This study theoretically complements research on LS. The use of large-sample data analysis ensures the reliability of the results, providing practical implications for China's proactive response to population aging and policy, and enhancing the subjective well-being of the elderly population.

China is just experiencing a period of population aging accelerating. With the approaching of an aging society, elderly care becomes increasingly challenging; however, a variety of disadvantages has been exposed gradually, including unsatisfactory health care, unstable daily care, insufficient emotional comfort, no timely emergency aids, and so forth. The traditional elderly care model has already impeded, to a large extent, the sustainable development of elderly care. As the rapid development and wide application of big data, smart elderly care comes into being, which shows various advantages while comparing with traditional elderly care services. The Chinese government has the responsibility to implement the smart elderly service in its initial stage of development.

Since the onset of the 21st century, China has been grappling with an aging population. The continuous increase in the number of individuals aged 65 and above in recent years has intensified this aging trend. To alleviate the challenges of an aging society and promote healthy aging in China, the development of integrated medical and elderly care services was formally proposed in 2013. This initiative has led to the establishment of four integrated service models, which have achieved commendable results over the past few years. However, China's foray into integrated medical and elderly care services began relatively late, and several challenges persist. These include a mismatch between the supply and demand of services, limited financing channels for these services, overlapping management by multiple government departments, and a shortage of specialized professionals in the field. Based on this analysis, this paper suggests enhancing the match between supply and demand for integrated services, diversifying financing channels, strengthening collaborative governance of these services, and actively recruiting and cultivating professionals specialized in integrated medical and elderly care.

China urgently needs to grow the senior care business and raise the standard of elderly care services in response to the major problem of population aging. Currently, the government provides universal old services and depends on financial support. However, with government revenue continuing to decline, it is not possible for the government to provide elderly care services on its own. The cutting-edge model of government-social capital cooperation (Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for short) was applied. The government started actively guiding social capital into the field of elderly care services in order to optimize the social financing mechanism and relieve the pressure on the government, and the cutting-edge model of government-social capital cooperation was applied.

AbstractWith the fast pace of population aging, industrialization, and urbanization in China, the main source of elderly care is changing. Using China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey data, we investigate the elderly care provision situation and find that spouses are currently the most important elderly care providers in China. We use a model to depict the trade‐off between a caregiver's own health and the care quality obtained by the care recipient. The model predicts that under some conditions, the caregivers will provide care at the cost of their health. Employing a stratified propensity score matching method, we find that spouses' caregivers are more likely to have depression, physical pain, and hypertension than noncaregivers. The negative effects are larger for caregivers with a high level of care intensity or less support from other resources. Female spousal caregivers tend to suffer more from depression and physical pain than male spousal caregivers. Our findings suggest that policies toward “healthy aging” should target not only the disabled elderly but also their spousal caregivers who are also elderly people.