Abstract: China has entered an aging society with weak economic strength and lagging system preparation. The current old-age security system, medical security system, old-age service system and traditional management system have failed to keep up with the requirements of the rapid development of population aging, which is the most serious problem facing developing countries.
Paper Keywords: population aging; An aging society; Endowment security; Medical security; Elderly care service
First, the basic situation of population aging in China
Population aging is the product of economic and social development to a certain stage, involving many fields such as national economy, politics, culture and social construction, and is a major social strategic issue related to the national economy and people's livelihood and the country's sustainable development. At present, China is in a new development stage of building a well-off society in an all-round way and accelerating socialist modernization. It is in an important period of profound institutional transformation, structural adjustment and social change, and it is also a crucial period to deal with the aging population. At present, China's population aging situation is very serious, facing the dual pressures of aging population and overpopulation.
According to international standards, China has entered an aging society and a period of rapid development. At present, the number of elderly people over 60 in China has reached 1.44 billion, accounting for1l% of the total population, and will increase at an average annual rate of 3%. China has become the only country in the world where the elderly population exceeds 1 100 million, and it is also the country with the most serious aging population during the rise of developing countries. It is predicted that in 20 10, the elderly population in China will reach 654.38+74 million, accounting for 12.8% of the total population. It will reach 248 million in 2020, accounting for 17.2% of the total population. From 2005 to 2020, the elderly population in China will increase by 654.38 billion. After that, it entered the stage of rapid development, increased to more than 30% around 2050, and entered a serious aging. By then, the total number of elderly people in China will exceed the total population of the United States. From the first half of this century, China will always be the country with the largest elderly population in the world. The aging level in China has risen from 10% to 30% in less than 50 years, while it takes about 100 years for western industrialized countries such as Britain, France and the United States. For a developing country with a large population, this speed is really amazing.
With the rapid development of population aging, China's family structure, the situation of elderly groups and the distribution of urban and rural elderly population will show many changes. First, the number of purely elderly families has increased rapidly. There are fewer and fewer "it runs in the family" traditional families, and the "four-two-one" family structure (a couple supporting four old people and one child at the same time) is gradually increasing. According to relevant surveys, at present, the proportion of pure elderly families in China is about 40.3% in cities and 37.8% in rural areas, and it is still increasing. Second, the elderly population has increased dramatically. The average life expectancy in China has reached 7 1.4 years, and the number of elderly people over 80 years old is as high as15.2 million. It is predicted that it will double by 2020 and exceed 654,380+billion in 2052, accounting for 1/4 of the global elderly population. The elderly are the fastest growing group in the elderly population. In the first half of this century, the average growth rate of the elderly population in China exceeded 4%, which was 1.7 times that of the elderly population. The growth rate of this kind of very old people is very rare in the history of population aging in the world. Third, the aging degree of urban and rural population is upside down. The aging level of urban population in developed countries is generally higher than that in rural areas, while the situation in China is just the opposite. In 2000, China's rural aging level was 10.9%, which was 1.24 percentage points higher than that of cities and towns, and it will be 5 and 7 percentage points higher than that of cities and towns in 2020 and 2030 respectively. The impact of aging on rural areas is more serious than that of cities and towns. This is an important feature of China's aging population, which is different from developed countries. Fourth, aging is ahead of modernization. China has entered an aging society ahead of schedule before modernization and economic underdevelopment, and it belongs to getting old before getting rich. However, developed countries naturally entered the aging society when they basically realized modernization and their economies were relatively developed, and they belonged to getting rich first and getting old later.
When China entered the aging society, its per capita GDP just exceeded $65,438+0,000, belonging to the ranks of low-income countries, while the per capita GDP of developed countries generally exceeded $5,000-65,438+0,000, 1.3 when they entered the aging society. The rapid development of population aging has had a wide and far-reaching impact on economic and social development. The aging of population has brought about great changes in the age structure of labor force, the structure of population dependency ratio and the inter-generational interest relationship. It puts forward new and higher requirements for improving the old-age medical service system, strengthening the government's social management and public service functions, and developing the cultural, educational, health and sports undertakings for the elderly.
Second, the main problems faced by China's aging population
China entered an aging society under the condition of underdeveloped economy. The economic strength to deal with the aging population is weak and the system preparation is relatively slow, so the situation is quite severe.
First, the current old-age security system has not adapted to the requirements of the rapid development of population aging. Adequate and stable pension supply is the core of the old-age security system and the key to sustainable development. The rapid aging in China will lead to fundamental changes in the support structure, resulting in a sharp drop in the number of pension payers and a sharp increase in the number of recipients, and the contradiction between supply and demand of pensions is becoming increasingly acute. On the one hand, the pressure of fund payment in China's current endowment insurance system is increasing year by year. 1980, the ratio of employees to retirees in China was L 2.8: 1, but it dropped sharply to 3: 1 in 2004, and the burden of providing for the aged increased sharply. On the other hand, due to the long-term dual economic structure between urban and rural areas, the coverage of China's current old-age insurance system is narrow, and only the old-age insurance system has been established in cities and towns, and the vast majority of rural elderly people have not yet been included in the social old-age insurance system. Therefore, the task of perfecting the old-age insurance system is very arduous.
Second, the medical security system does not meet the requirements of the rapid increase of the elderly population. The elderly are the main consumers of medical and health resources. According to statistics, about two-thirds of the remaining life of the elderly over 60 years old are sick. At present, China's medical resources are generally insufficient and unevenly distributed, the coverage of the medical security system is small, the government investment is relatively insufficient, and the personal burden is rising too fast. With the rapid growth of the elderly population, the consumption and occupation of medical resources are increasing, and the ability to pay is limited, which will bring great pressure and severe test to China's medical security system.
Third, the old-age service system cannot meet the needs of the elderly. More and more elderly people, disabled people and people living alone. There is an increasing demand for social nursing services. At present, about 32.5 million elderly people in China need different forms of long-term care and nursing services. However, the number of social old-age beds only accounts for 0.84% of the total number of elderly people, while it is about 7% in developed countries. This shows that the construction of China's old-age service system is seriously lagging behind, and the service capacity needs to be greatly strengthened.
Fourth, the traditional management system does not meet the requirements of socialized management and service. With the deepening of various reforms and the transformation of government functions, enterprise retirees have changed from "unit people" to "social people", and more and more retirees will enter the community, so it is inevitable to implement socialized management and services for them. This requires the community to undertake the tasks of improving the working mechanism of the elderly, cultivating and developing mass organizations of the elderly, safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, providing venues for the elderly, activating their spiritual and cultural life, and guiding them to participate in economic development and social affairs. It is urgent to strengthen community construction and develop community services. However, China's community construction is still in the initial and exploratory stage, the community service system is still far from perfect, and the service capacity and service level need to be improved rapidly.