Population Ageing and the Traditional Old-age Support System in China
Name:Peng Yahua Student ID：b07119
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Seku Conde
Minzu University of China
2007-2008 Academic Year
Introduction
Once called the "sleeping giant," because of the potential of its economy, China now faces a different kind of growth: its aging population. According to a 1982 census, 7.6% of its population of one billion was aged 60 and older. Today, more than 10% of its 1.3 billion citizens are in this category.[1] According to the United Nations, an aging society is a society with at least 7% of its population aged 65 and older. China reached 7.6% in September 2005. What does this mean for China, and what does China's aging mean for the world, if currently one of every five older people on earth is Chinese[2] and how do you think about it? This article examines the characteristics of the aging population of China and the causes for the early coming of the aging problem in China. It also explains the traditional old-age support system in China, with particular attention to the problem of traditional old-age support system aroused by the transformation of society.
The characteristics of the aging of the Chinese population
The actuality of aging population in China is decided by the situation of China. The characteristics of the aging of the Chinese population are the following: [3]
The speed of aging in china is fast, the trend of aging is obvious, the absolute number of aging people increased rapidly.
By 2005, citizens over 65 years of age rose to 6.96 percent of the whole population. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the rapid decrease in China’s birth rate, combined with stable or improving life expectancy, has led to an increasing proportion of elderly people and an increase in the ratio between elderly parents and adult children. By 2020, over 23 percent of China’s citizenry is expected to be over age 65, resulting in a major challenge to China’s old-age support system.[4] A graph of China’s population in 2020 and a graph of fast speed of population aging in China, according to United Nations Population Division projections are shown below:
Figure 1 China’s population in 2020
Source: United Nations Population Division
Figure 2 Fast speed of population aging in china
Source: United Nations Population Division
The appearance of the aging people is prior to the level of economic development.
In the UNPD’s "medium" scenario, the median age of China’s population in 2050 will be forty-five years old —about 15 years higher than today’s median population age. This means that over a third of the citizens of that future China would be sixty or older. According to UNPD projections, China’s population half a century from now would be more elderly than the future populations of countries like Denmark, Finland, and Norway, despite the fact that those Scandinavian countries are already "gray" today.
The difference is that China’s per capita income is significantly lower and it is already facing these “Developed Country” problems due to its implementation of the one-child policy. By comparison, other developing countries like India and Indonesia continue to boast high birthrates and are expected to have, on average, a younger population than China in the coming decades.
The development of the cities and towns is complicated and the development of regions is unbalanced.
China’s mortality rate is bi-modal. Urban Chinese residents have an expected lifespan of nearly 6 years greater than rural residents. This may be attributable to greater access to modern healthcare in urban areas, as well as a higher income and thus higher standard of living of urban dwellers. There has always been a weight difference between children in rural versus urban area, although this has decreased somewhat in recent years, according to a 2005 report by the People’s Daily newspaper.
The causes for the early coming of the aging problem in China
China’s lower mortality rate, when combined with the one-child policy, has resulted in a dramatic aging of China’s overall population.
The main cause of the early coming of the aging in China is the rapid development of social economy and scientific technology. With the improvement of medical condition and social culture, the birth rate and mortality rate of China keep decreasing, and the average life expectancy of the people extended continuously.[5] In 1950, the average life expectancy of China was less than 40 years old. While now it has risen to 71 years old. Still, it is expected to reach 75.7 in 25 years time.
The “Birth Control” Policy implemented in the late 1970s is the main factor of the early coming of the aging in China. The population policy of China focuses on the control of the population. According to United Nations Population Division projections, in the past 35 years, China has reduced 400 millions of birth. Because the structure of the population could not be changed, when fast growth of the population was under control, the population structure could not but develop in the trend of aging, thus caused the historical change of the age structure of Chinese population. A graph of 400 million births prevented from 1970 to 2005 is shown below:
Figure 3. 400 million births prevented
But, Family planning policies have become more relaxed in an effort to smooth out the population’s aging. In rural areas, couples have been allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl and minority group can now have up to three children. In urban areas, if a couple is both from a one-child family, they are now allowed to have a second child, provided that it is at least four years later than the first child. Nonetheless, according to University of California at Irvine Sociology Professor Wang Feng, at present, 63 percent of Chinese couples are still limited to one child under existing policies.[6]
China is facing the huge challenge from fast speed of population aging, particularly the old-age support system of China is weakening.
The old-age support system in China
Family care has been China's traditional mode of old-age support for several thousand years. Whether it stems from some part of our cultural background such as Confucianism or is a natural part of living in a crowded country, without this "informal" support, the burden of caring for older people on the formal system would dramatically increase. A graph of composition of households with older people of china in 2000 is shown below. The percentage in this graph shows 74.9% household are living with at least one older person.
Figure 4 Composition of Households with
Older People in China: 2000
Source: China 2000 Census
At present, there are many large cities in certain parts of the country, but most Chinese people live in rural areas. This may affect health care for older people for two reasons. First, rural areas are still quite poor. Average annual income of farmers, who make up the majority of rural Chinese, is less than one-third that of urbanites, which affects the ability to pay for health care. Second, millions of migrant workers come to the cities to try to make a living, which may leave older people behind without the traditional network of children to care for them as they age. Older persons from the rural areas or small towns sometimes come with their adult children when they move to the big cities, but only if the adult children are financially successful. Despite the fact that in the countryside, the family is still the most reliable support for the elderly, and there 80% of the aged live with their children or other family members. The majority of the elderly continue to work because they have no retirement pensions.
By comparison, urban workers can usually enjoy state retirement pensions provided by the enterprises for which they worked. Of course, this is an extremely complicated system, founded on the principle of covering current expenses from current dues, which has come under reform only very recently. In practical matters and psychologically speaking, the family is still the mainstay of daily life for the aged, both in the cities and in the countryside. [7]
Family support for older people is strong in China. Some older people have one-to-one care from a baomu (literally "protection" (bao) "mother" (mu)), a type of live-in maid who also provides care for the older person. [8] Some of the challenges facing China in the care of its aging population are how to increase geriatric research and training, how to care for the uninsured or underinsured, and how to handle the inevitable growth of disabled and frail older people.
The baomu system described above might be considered a luxury available only to a small percentage of the Chinese population, but this type of one-on-one care, especially if the caregiver has some training, is well worth it if it is affordable. Also, since the 4-2-1 phenomenon (The term "4-2-1" describes the future social family structure in China: four grandparents, two adult children, one grandchild.[9]) is unlikely to improve dramatically in the future, the baomu could become a more-important element in Chinese elder care. A challenge in preserving this part of the healthcare system is how to assist the older relatives of the [...]
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