Search

This paper examines the factors affecting the receipt of informal care among older people in China. It uses the second wave data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, which collected ageing and health-related information on a nationally representative sample of 8,906 older people aged 60 and over in 2013. Apart from the factors that have been examined in the contexts of developed countries, the paper further investigates two factors specific to Chinese society: rural–urban residence and regular financial assistance from children. Based on binary and multinomial logit regression analyses, the research findings are threefold: the determinants of receiving informal care differ remarkably according to the sources of care; disability and living arrangements are the most important determinants; rural–urban residence plays a vital role in the Chinese context, but regular financial assistance from children makes little difference. It is estimated that 53 million older people are receiving informal care each year, a figure equivalent to the entire population of England. With continuous population ageing, Chinese society will face huge pressure to meet the demand for social care among older people in the future. The Chinese government needs to build a well-rounded welfare system that tackles this challenge from multiple dimensions. The formal care services should aim to complement informal care in the short run and reduce inequality in social care in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid demographic shifts and socio-economic changes are fuelling concerns over the inadequate supply of informal care – the most common source of care-giving for older people in China. Unmet long-term care needs, which are believed to cause numerous adverse effects on health, continue to increase. Drawing data from the 2015 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, this study explores the relationship between informal care provision and unmet long-term care needs among older people in China. We first examine the availability of informal care among older people with disabilities. We then analyse whether a higher intensity of informal care leads to lower unmet needs. Our findings suggest that the majority of older people with disabilities receive a low intensity of care, i.e. less than 80 hours per month. Besides, a higher intensity of informal care received could significantly lower the probabilities of unmet needs for the disabled older adults who have mainly instrumental activities of daily living limitations. Our study points out that informal care cannot address the needs of those who are struggling with multi-dimensional difficulties in their daily living. Our findings highlight a pressing need for the government to buttress the formal care provision and delivery systems to support both informal care-givers and disabled older people in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is experiencing rapid urbanisation and population ageing, alongside sometimes contentious rural land consolidation. These on-going social, economic, political and demographic changes are especially problematic for older people in rural areas. In these regions, social and institutional support arrangements are less developed than in urban areas; older people have few options for re-settlement but are resistant to or incapable of adjusting to high-rise apartment living. In 2012–13, we gathered rich qualitative and quantitative data on over 600 older residents in 12 villages under the jurisdiction of City L in north-east coastal China to analyse residents’ living arrangement choices during the village renovation process. We compared villages with and without senior centres to shed light on the correlates of co-residence and independent living. Senior centres play a role in balancing the burden on rural Chinese families resulting from population ageing, smaller families, widespread migration for work, and the rapid urbanisation that is restructuring land rights and social support arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]