- 李珅 China Daily, January 10, 2011
Mu Guangzong: Senior citizens need better treatment
The draft law on senior citizens, which requires people to visit their aged parents regularly to help fulfill their emotional and spiritual needs, indicates that taking care of senior citizens has become a serious problem in China.
An aging population reflects a country’s advancement in science and technology, and higher standards of living. But it poses a challenge, too, for it creates new problems for the country.
The number of people aged 60 years and above in China has risen to 160 million, or more than 12 percent of the total population. An aging society, according to international standards, is one that has more than 10 percent of its population above the age of 60.
The number of aging people in China is likely to increase until it reaches to about 240 million, 17 percent of the population in 2020, when the country will have about 30 million people over the age of 80. China’s economic and social structure and function are still in the reformatory stage and, hence, cannot keep pace with the rising number of elderly people. Continue