Beijing needs more elderly care facilities: official

BEIJING - Beijing built 20 new elderly care centers and 160 community-based day care service stations for senior citizens in 2019, an official with the city's office of elder affairs said Wednesday.

At present the capital has a total of 297 eldercare centers, with 214 of them in operation, said Wang Xiao'e, executive deputy director of the office.

Meanwhile, a total of 915 community-based elder service stations have been providing services such as long-term nursing, day care, assisted living and psychological support, to nearby senior citizens, according to Wang.

But the official said the city still lags behind in terms of providing enough eldercare facilities to ordinary senior citizens, largely due to inadequate land supply and professionals.

Beijing plans to build 91 elder service stations in communities with high numbers of seniors in 2020, Wang said.

The Chinese capital sees an average increase of over 500 people at or above the age of 60 each day and a daily rise of about 120 people at or above the age of 80. The number of registered residents who are aged 60 or above in Beijing is expected to exceed 3.8 million by 2020.

China will have a population of 487 million aged 60 or above by around 2050, according to the Office of the National Working Commission on Aging. In recent years, China has stepped up efforts in advancing diversified elderly care services based on communities and families.