By Feng Wenmeng, “Chinese people's livelihood survey” research group, DRC

Research Report, No.164 2022 (Total 6678) 2022-04-29

Abstract: Surveys on Chinese people's livelihood in recent years show that home-based elderly care is the main choice for Chinese residents. China’s home-based elderly care has experienced fast development since 2015, under the effect of policies and implementation, where the coverage of service was expanded and service items increased. However, the Chinese people's livelihood survey in 2021 showed that there is still a big gap between the development of home-based elderly care and residents’ needs. The sector is faced with prominent problems such as inadequate service contents, imbalance between supply and demand and big differences between urban and rural areas. Medical care is the most concerning part for old people receiving home-based care, but the existing medical and health care service system is not age-friendly. Low income has become an important factor curbing the development of home-based elderly care in rural areas. To steadily push forward the development of home-based elderly care, we need to increase rural residents’ pension, improve services provided by urban and rural communities and make medical care services more age-friendly.

Key words: home-based elderly care, medical service, people's livelihood survey