Blog Who will look after China’s old?
December 28th, 2006
In China, children used to take care of their parents when they became old. It doesn’t always happen anymore - and the growing number of elderly is becoming quite a challenge for society.
Sending your parents to a rest home? While quite common in the West, it has been almost unthinkable for many Chinese. Not until recently, reports Washington Post.
But the forces of demographics and economic growth are changing people’s perspectives.
The one-child policy, although somewhat relaxed in recent years, has made the percentage of old people in the population grow. Currently about 150 million people are older than 60 - and the number is expected to grow with another 100 million each decade.
At the same time younger people are eager to make a career. Each couple typically being responsible for four elderly parents, that can be a tough balancing act.
The result? Also in China there is a growing need for rest homes. Now new nursing homes are popping up all over China.
It is not difficult to argue why it is necessary. There are both social and economic arguments for that. And probably there is no realistic alternatives either.
Yet we cannot avoid noting that it is also a sad development. Slowly one of the distinct virtues of family structures in China, in which different generations so willingly took responsibility for each other, seems to be under threat.
What will happen next?
