BEIJING, Nov. 27, (Asia Free Press) – More than 30 percent of Beijing residents will be senior citizens till 2035, indicating greater urgency for the Chinese capital to prepare for population ageing, according to an official document.
According to a development plan issued by the municipal working committee on ageing, the elderly population will nearly double to approach 7 million in Beijing in 2035.
The number of Beijing residents was 21.9 million by the end of 2020, with about 19.6 percent being 60 years old or above, indicating a mildly ageing society, it noted.
“It speculates that by 2025, Beijing will become a moderately ageing society with the proportion of senior citizens reaching 24 percent”, stated in the official document.
The average life expectancy of Beijing’s residents has surpassed 82 years, necessitating increasing demand for elderly care services.
By 2025, Beijing will build and put 280 township-level elderly care centres and no less than 1,200 stations providing community-based elderly care services. It will further fine-tune relevant policies, systems and explore more options to better serve senior residents, according to the official document.