Elderly Population In China

Breakdown the Categories of the Elderly population in China In China there are many different factors that contribute to the life span of the elderly population in China, such as education, and exposure to other risk factors throughout the span of one’s life. When looking at the mortality rate in China It is said that men live shorter lives than the women in China, but the women tend to experience more health issues than the elderly men in China. Another reason for the women experiencing more health risk throughout their life is due to the lower wages they are paid while working in textile factories which leaves them with having to pay more for health care and pay more out of pocket expenses.
Politics
The Ministry of Health of the State
council “was an executive agency of the state which played the role of providing information, raising health awareness and education, ensuring the accessibility of health services, and monitoring the quality of health services provided to citizens and visitors in the mainland of the People's Republic of China.” (Jane, 2015) But it was later replaced by the National Health and Planning Committee in 2013 during the reform.
“Services delivered in the vertical mode are funded directly by municipal governments and most services are free or with minimal fees. For example, community based healthcare centers had been primarily responsible for family planning and health education; today they provide services such as free basic medical care for the poor, and other primary healthcare that older residents can easily access, along with special programs such as chronic disease treatment.” (Xu, 2011)
Economics
In China the poverty rate for the elderly population is “nearly a quarter of elderly people in China live below the poverty line according to a new comprehensive survey conducted by
researchers at the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) at Peking University in Beijing.”(keck, 2013)” About one in three Chinese elderly report having poor health, and nearly one in four have consumption levels below the poverty line, according to findings released today from a landmark survey of Chinese adults aged 45 and over.”(Wang, 2013) “The researchers found that 22.9 percent of individuals over the age of 60 lived below the poverty line, compared to just 15.1 percent for those between the ages of 45 and 59. With about 160 million people over the age of 60 living in China, this equates to over 42 million elderly people living in poverty.”(Keck, 2013) Another major contributor to the high poverty rate of the elderly population in China is contributed to the children moving to search for better employment and leaving their parents behind, in rural communities. When the children leave for better employment the parents, are then forced to care for themselves which leads them to living in poverty. Like I stated earlier in the paper the one child policy that was set in place in 1979 is now having a major effect on the lives of the parents being that they were forced to have on one child do to the high volume of babies being had during that time period. Those that live alone with children that moved to different cities are more prone to higher health risk that cause them and the family to fall further in debt. Being that the family has to pay for the medical expenses of the elderly family members that may be in need. Due to the shortage in funding from Healthcare it also forces the family to pay for medical expenses. In China most elders retire between the ages of 60-65.
There are different forms of systems that are used for the elderly population in China for those that have retired and those that are planning on retiring. “A formal system, under which urban employees receive generous pensions and face mandatory retirement by age 60, and an informal system, under which rural residents and individuals in the informal sector rely on family support in old age and have much longer working lives.”(Wang, 2011) With the elderly family members sometimes leaning on the other members in their families, which tends to be another key contributor to them living in poverty, and leaving to seek better employment. With the older population continuing to work tends to put a strain on their health and tends to lead to major health issues and higher medical expenses. There is also a big difference between the times men and women retire from work. “A strong relationship between health status and labor supply in rural areas is observed, indicating the potential role that improvements in access to health care may play in extending working lives and also providing some basis for a common perception that older rural residents tend to work as long as they are physically capable.”(Wang, 2011) But with the retirement age being at 60-65, and their being such a high volume of ageing people in China is having a reverse affect being that the working population pays for the social services and health care that
the ageing population receives. It means that there will be fewer people working than those that are working and shifts will have to be made in order to afford to give social services to the retired population in China.
Culture [Derwin, I have stopped leaving comments here to make sure I have ample time to leave you feedback.] The beliefs in China regarding the elders is very important in many different aspects. In America it is not frowned upon to put your loved ones in a nursing home, but in china it is very uncommon in rural areas of China where traditional entrenchment about the nuclear family is mainstream. ‘Placing your parents in retirement homes will see you labelled as uncaring or a bad son. To abandon one’s family is considered deeply dishonorable”. (Dalby, 2007) When tackling such degenerative illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease, most families would prefer hiring a permanent caregiver than to place their relative in a nursing home. (Dalby, 2007) When caring for your parents it seen to be your duty, because they cared for you as you were growing in age now it is seen as the children’s turn to care for their ageing parents. So if a child does the opposite of caring for their parents they are frowned upon by the family members and then disowned.
Historical