China Insights on Health and Care Systems for Older People

In China, there were 280 million people aged 60 and above at the end of 2022, accounting for 19.8 percent of the entire population. The figure is expected to exceed 300 million by 2025, and 400 million by around 2035. The incidence of chronic disease and disability for the elderly is astonishingly high. Among the 267 million people aged 60 and over in 2021, there were about 190 million individuals who have at least one chronic disease and 40 million living with disability.

In response to the complex needs and drawing from international experiences, China has adopted active and healthy ageing and integrating health and care strategies as policy priorities in coping with population ageing in the past decade. Progress has been made while challenges remain.

In this first “China Insights” symposium jointly sponsored by Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) of China and International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), Professor Nick Goodwin from CCRI joined Chinese and international experts to assess the policy progress and practice models of care integration in China as well as global experiences and lessons learned. The symposium was attended by over 1000 delegates.