China’s One Child Policy Causing Problems for the Elderly

About 10 million nurses and specialists are needed to look after those who cannot take care of themselves, while care facilities for the aged had only 220,000 employees, 90 percent of whom were under-qualified, it said.

Beijing resident Wang Bing, for example, was turned away by four nursing homes when he was looking for one for his 69-year-old diabetic mother last year, China Daily reported.

One of the homes put the elderly Mrs. Wang on its waiting list, ‘but I don’t know how long it will take before it will be our turn,’ Mr. Wang, a driver, said.

Ageing is a long-term trend affecting more and more countries of the world, but China faces the unusual situation of growing old before it grows rich, partly due to the government’s strict one-child policy and changing cultural norms.

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