Bloomberg recently reported on the ageing problem in China noting that:

• The latest government census shows 178 million people over 60. By 2050 the UN forecasts that up to 437 million will be – a third of China’s population.
• This is a challenge that Japan also had to face in the 1990s. The difference is that Japan had the opportunity to deal with it after it got rich. On a per capita basis the Chinese are still relatively poor.
• The government still expects families to provide for the old but after decades of a One Child policy this is becoming increasingly difficult for them to do.

To read more about the contrasts between some of the facilities available for the elderly as well as the experiences of individual senior citizens in China click here.

Source: Bloomberg