Over 30m elderly people benefit from subsidies, allowances

BEIJING — Subsidies and allowances have brought benefits to more than 30 million elderly people, with allowance systems for the elderly established in all provinces nationwide, according to a Ministry of Civil Affairs statement.

Currently, subsidy systems for elderly care services have been built in 30 provinces and nursing subsidy systems in 29 provinces, said the statement.

The ministry has made continuous efforts to improve the service quality of elderly care homes. Checks in 2018 found 163,000 safety hazards and other problems, and 90 percent of them have been solved, it read.

People now have more elderly care choices. As of the end of 2018, there were nearly 30,000 elderly care institutions with 7.5 million beds across the country, it added.

In the future, the ministry will continue optimizing services of elderly care homes, push forward elderly care services in downtown areas of big cities and initiate renovation and upgrading of elderly care homes in rural areas, especially those in poverty-stricken areas, it read.