The existence of millions of senior residents makes creating an all-round elderly care industry in Central China's Hunan province both a necessity and a lucrative business for economic and social reasons.

The Zhigong Party Hunan Provincial Committee proposed for the building of the first sustainable elderly care industry complex in the province during the Third Session of the 11th CPPCC Hunan Provincial Committee, Changsha Evening News reported on Jan 27.

Aged population will see a net increase of 600,000 every year

The aged population in Hunan reached 10.79 million by the end of 2013, making up 16 percent of the permanent residents living in the province, while those at the age of 65 or above was 7.84 million, accounting for around 11 percent of the total population.

In the next 10 years, Hunan province will witness an average net increase of more than half a million 60-year-olds annually and a net increase of 70,000 elderly over 80 years old, according to the Zhigong Party, a non-communist political party in China.

They added that currently there are only 18 beds for every 1,000 senior residents in the province, four beds less than the national average level. The elderly care industry in Hunan is confronted with problems such as the supply-demand imbalance of industry resources, poor services, and severe fragmentation, which have been major predicaments in the way of sustainable and sound development of social economy in the province.

Market size of elderly industry could exceed 200 billion yuan

It is estimated that the population at the age of 60 or above will amount to 12.7 million and residents above 65 year-old will climb to 7.88 million in 2015. Based on these figures, the senior care industry scale will be expected to increase to 254 billion yuan and maintain a rapid growth rate over a long period.

The cultivation of a senior care industry complex not only can serve as a new driving engine of the provincial economy, but also help ease tensions in the job market, according to the Zhigong Party in Hunan, adding that based on the overseas experience, every service staff member could take care of two senior people on average, so two million elderly residents who need care services at present in Hunan province can create one million jobs.

Government should create sustainable senior care industry complex

In China, 90 percent of senior residents tend to choose home-based care; seven percent enjoy community nursing services and three percent live in nursing homes.

In the light of this trend, the Hunan Zhigong Party committee urged local government to set up a comprehensive and three-level senior care system, which will be led by elderly care institutions, supported with community nursing service, and on the basis of a health-care cloud platform that can cover every family with tele-medicine and health-management.

It also suggested the government make full use of various capitals like insurance funds, money from policy lenders, and commercial capital to establish a leading senior care enterprise in Hunan province.

It called for the government to work together with universities to set up senior nursing colleges to cultivate more professionals in this sector.

A special fund should be set up to provide guidance and support to every branch of the industry, it said, adding that a think tank to be set up by the government should also bring together industry experts to advise on the matter.