China's disabled elderly people to reach 100m by mid-century

BEIJING - The number of elderly people with disabilities or dementia in China will reach 100 million by mid-century when the country's aged population hits its peak, according to an international seminar on long-term care for the elderly.

With the number currently approaching 40 million, taking care of these elderly people has become one of the toughest tasks for China's elderly care system, according to the seminar on long-term care for the elderly held here on Wednesday.

According to experts at the seminar, a long-term care system can provide disabled elderly people with full service, but such service still has a long way to go in China.

"Better developed regions should be encouraged to take the lead in setting up long-term care systems," said Wang Jianjun, an official at a national office on aging.

The number of people aged over 65 in China reached 137 million at the end of 2014, accounting for 10.1 percent of the country's population, statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.