The Building of the Support System for the Rural Aged People in China—Based on a Case Study of Yulin City

The aging problem in rural areas is worse than that in urban areas, but the level of rural economics is far behind that of urban economics in China. Therefore, to solve the rural aging problem is the key to China's... [ view full abstract ]

The aging problem in rural areas is worse than that in urban areas, but the level of rural economics is far behind that of urban economics in China. Therefore, to solve the rural aging problem is the key to China's undertakings for the aged, and it has been the social hot topic that who and how provide support for the Chinese rural elderly. Through the discussions with the city, county, town and village government related staff and the interviews with 20 elderly in Yulin city of Shaanxi, depending on the differences in health, income and family care of the elderly, the paper builds a 4-dimentional support system covering all Chinese rural elderly according to the social support theory:（1）Family-support for the aged by legal agreement. For the aged that could get family care, they sign maintenance agreements with their children. The government supervises support behavior of their children according to the agreements and provides a certain amount of monetary assistance for the poor health or the low income of them.（2）Society-support for the aged through mutual form within a generation and between generations. For the aged that couldn’t get family care and with good health, they help each other, and neighborhood volunteers provide services for them at the same time. The government provides a certain amount of monetary assistance for the low income of them.（3）Market-support for the aged through market mechanisms. For the aged that couldn’t get family care and with poor health and high income, for-profit institutions provide professional services for them.（4）Government-support for the aged through the form of welfare. For the aged that couldn’t get family care and with poor health and low income, the government runs nursing home and welfare home to support them for free. The support system for the rural aged people adapts to China’s “9073” plan. In future firstly the system construction should be completed, secondly the population coverage of the system should be expanded, finally the service level of the system should be improved gradually.