Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China

The mechanism for protecting the rights and interests of the elderly is improving. China works to ensure the interests of the elderly, and advocates the virtues of respecting, providing for and assisting the elderly. In 2018, some 249 million Chinese were aged 60 or above, accounting for 17.9 percent of the total population. China formulated and amended the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, forming a legal and policy framework for old-age care.

Many of China's elderly were cared for in nursing homes previously. Now, a new system for the elderly is taking shape, where the elderly are provided with home care, taken care of by community and supported by social services, featuring a combination of nursing at home and mutual help. In March 2019, China had 168,100 institutions and facilities with 7.32 million beds to provide old-age services, in contrast with just 7,000 in 1978. In 2018, 29.72 million senior citizens received advanced age subsidies, 748,000 nursing subsidies, 5.2 million old-age service subsidies, and 30,000 other old-age subsidies.

The social security system for persons with disabilities is improving. China has established a subsidy system to provide for the living expenses of disabled persons in need and to pay the nursing costs of persons with severe disabilities. In 2018, this system benefitted over 21 million. A total of 25.61 million persons with disabilities were covered in old-age insurance schemes in both urban and rural areas, with 10.24 million receiving old-age pensions, and 9.25 million people with disabilities received urban or rural minimum living subsidies. And 5.76 million (96.8 percent) out of the 5.95 million people with severe disabilities received insurance subsidies from the government, which paid for their premiums. The government also paid fully or partly for premiums for another 2.98 million people with mild or moderate disabilities.