Guangdong must prepare for an ageing population, said the deputy director general of the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province, Xiong Song, on Wednesday.
The department predicts that Guangdong’s population ageing coefficient will reach 17 percent by 2025 and 20 percent in 2030, meaning that the province will have a “moderately” ageing society.
Xiong was speaking at a press conference organised by the information office of the provincial government.
During the conference, mention was made of official plans to build a basic elderly care system by 2025, including training for senior care workers, food services for the elderly and the maintenance of facilities for people in this age group.
[See more: People over 65 now represent more than 13 percent of the population]
Earlier this year, financial officials said that 889 million yuan were being allocated towards the setting up of a system of elderly services.
Up until the end of 2022, the number of elderly people in Guangdong aged 60 or above totalled 16.21 million people, which accounts for 16.1 percent of the province’s population.
Macao is also facing ageing-related problems of its own. The proportion of people aged 65 and above grew by just over a percentage point in 2022, representing more than 13 percent of the population according to the latest official figures.
Legislators have called for the government to find solutions to the problem, although Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng was non-committal when asked about the issue earlier this year, noting that it was not within the “government’s control.”
—With reporting by Kenny Fong
