China’s Elder Care Policies 1994–2020: A Narrative Document Analysis

Marion F. Krings, Jeroen D. H. van Wijngaarden, Shasha Yuan and Robbert Huijsman
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Marion F. Krings: Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Jeroen D. H. van Wijngaarden: Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Shasha Yuan: Institute of Medical Information & Library, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100020, China
Robbert Huijsman: Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Until the 1980s, institutional elder care was virtually unknown in China. In a few decades, China had to construct a universal social safety net and assure basic elderly care. China’s government has been facing several challenges: the eroding traditional family care, the funding to assure care services for the older population, as well as the shortage of care delivery services and nursing staff. This paper examines China’s Five-Year Policy Plans from 1994 to 2020. Our narrative review analysis focuses on six main topics revealed in these policies: care infrastructure, community involvement, home-based care, filial piety, active aging and elder industry. Based on this analysis, we identified several successive and often simultaneously strategic steps that China introduced to contend with the aging challenge. In Western countries, elder care policies have been shifting to the home care approach. China introduced home care as the elder care cornerstone and encouraged the revival of the filial piety tradition. Although China has a unique approach, the care policies for the aged population in China and Western countries are converging by emphasizing home-based care, informal care and healthy aging.

Keywords: aging policy; elder care; policy analysis; qualitative research; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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