China launches long-term care insurance system to alleviate aging challenges

BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) – China has announced the rollout of a long-term care insurance system, a move aimed at easing the burden on families caring for the rapidly growing elderly population, and bolstering the country’s social safety net. 

The plan, released by the China’s state council on Wednesday, pledges to provide services or financial support for basic nursing and medical care for people with sustained disabilities lasting six months or more.

The official Xinhua news agency said the plan was an important component of China’s social security system and key to “actively addressing population aging.” 

The announcement comes around three weeks after China’s National People’s Congress, where authorities said they would refine supportive policies for seniors, including pension financing, wellness and care.

 By 2035, the number of people aged over 60 in China is expected to reach 400 million – roughly equal to the combined populations of the United States and Italy – meaning hundreds of millions of people are set to leave the workforce at a time when pension budgets are already under strain. 

Experts are warning of further declines in China’s population, which fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, as the birth rate dropped to a record low.

The long-term insurance framework sets a three-year target to build “a unified system covering the entire population.” 

It follows pilot programs that began in 2016.

For disabled individuals, the program addresses a fundamental need and dramatically improves people’s quality of life, officials said. 

“Bathing, haircuts, eating, dressing changes — these are no longer distant hopes for those confined to a sickbed, but rather bedside, accessible, attentive care,” said Wang Wenjun, deputy head of the National Healthcare Security Administration during a press conference on Thursday.

Funding will come from employers, individuals and government subsidies, with a total contribution rate of roughly 0.3%.

Residents in both rural and urban areas will draw from the same fund pool and receive the same benefits, Wang said.

China still faces wide discrepancies in care and services between rural and urban areas and authorities have vowed to “markedly narrow” the rural-urban healthcare gap by 2035.

(Reporting by the Beijing newsroom and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Saad Sayeed)