Evaluation of Climatic Condition Suitability for Elderly Care Industry Development in Prefecture-Level Cities in China

Mengyuan Wang, Xiaoming Qi, Zehong Li and Maogui Hu
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Mengyuan Wang: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiaoming Qi: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Zehong Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Maogui Hu: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-17

Abstract: The demand for elderly care in China is growing, and the elderly care industry has great development prospects. Climatic conditions are important factors that affect the health of elderly individuals and the development of the elderly care industry. This study will have important guiding significance for the layout of China’s elderly care industry. This paper utilizes ArcGIS and the spatial fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to analyze the climatic suitability for the development of the elderly care industry in China’s four municipalities, the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions, and 333 prefecture-level administrative regions based on six factors: temperature, humidity, airflow, air pressure, sunshine, and precipitation. In addition, development suggestions are proposed. The results show the following. (1) The areas with highly suitable climatic conditions for the development of the elderly care industry in China are concentrated in the eastern and southern areas of Southwest China and the southern areas of Central and East China, mainly in the Yangtze and Pearl River Basins. Slightly suitable areas are distributed around highly suitable areas, concentrated in the central and southern regions of China. Low-suitability areas are clustered, including an area spanning northern North China and East China, southern Northeast China, and central Northwest China, and there is another cluster in Xinjiang. The non-suitable area resembles a strip extending from Northeast China along the Inner Mongolia Plateau to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (2) In Central and Southwest China, there are 57 prefecture-level administrative units with highly suitable temperature conditions that can develop an elderly care industry for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Twenty-eight prefecture-level administrative regions with comprehensively suitable temperature and humidity conditions scattered throughout the country can develop an elderly care industry for elderly patients suffering from rheumatic and respiratory diseases.

Keywords: climatic conditions; elderly care industry; suitability evaluation; prefecture-level city; spatial fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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