Population aging is the trend of population development in the world today. This change of population age structure is widely and profoundly affecting all aspects of human social life. Population aging has increasingly become a major population issue of concern to all countries in the world.
As the largest developing country in the world, China is facing an aging population under the background of "getting old before getting rich", which will surely bring profound changes to economic and social development.
First, the status of China's aging population
China is the country with the largest elderly population and the fastest growth in the world. Since 1980, the elderly population over 60 years old in China has been growing at an average annual rate of 3%. The results of the "Fifth General Plan" show that the population aged 65 and above has reached 88 1 10000, accounting for 6.96% of the total population. China has entered an aging society.
According to the prediction of relevant experts (pictured in the middle), by 2050, the number of elderly people over 65 in China will reach more than 320 million, accounting for about 1/5 of China's total population and 1/4(2) of the world's elderly population. At the same time, the aging trend of the elderly population in China is becoming increasingly obvious. It is estimated that by 2040, the population over 80 will reach 56 million.
It is worth noting that although the average fertility level in rural areas is higher than that in cities, due to a large number of young and middle-aged people flowing from rural areas to cities, the current aging rate in rural areas is 7.35% and that in cities and towns is 6.30%.
The aging trend of the elderly population in China is also very noticeable. At present, the elderly population in China is growing at an annual rate of 5.4%. According to experts' estimation, it will reach 27.8 million by 2020.
The rapid aging of the population in China is mainly the result of the excessive number of people born in the 1950s and 1960s, and the life expectancy of people has greatly increased. When developed countries enter an aging society, it is generally $654.38+more than 0.000 million, while our current per capita GNP is less than $654.38 +0.000.
Compared with western developed countries, China's aging is fast and sudden, ahead of industrialization and modernization, which will bring severe challenges to China's economic and social development.
At present, China's life expectancy and mortality rate are close to the level of developed countries, and the fertility rate has reached below the replacement level. With the baby boomers entering the old age in the middle of the 20th century, it can be predicted that the first half of the 20th century will be the fastest period of population aging in China.
Second, the main difficulties faced by the elderly population
(1) The urban elderly have a growing desire to be adopted by social welfare institutions, but the number of welfare institutions is still difficult to meet the needs of the elderly.
A survey released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs ⑤: At present, there are 28 16 social welfare institutions in China, with 220,000 beds and more than 70,000 adoptions; There are 3,700 collective welfare institutions with more than 870,000 beds and more than 660,000 adoptions. In total, there are more than 40,000 public welfare organizations, 1.09 million beds and more than 830,000 adoptions.
Compared with hundreds of millions of welfare clients in China (the elderly population exceeds1.300 million, orphans and disabled children number millions), the number of beds for centralized adoption is only a little over 0.7%, while the number of people for centralized adoption is less than 0.6%, which is far from the ratio of 5-7% in developed countries.
(2) The health status of the elderly is not optimistic. Compared with non-elderly population, the elderly population will have some age-related characteristics in physiology. With the continuous growth of age, physiological function, resistance and health status decline.
According to the statistics of the national health department from 65438 to 0994, "the prevalence rate of the elderly over 65 years old in cities in China is 60.2%, and the prevalence rate of the total urban population is 23.7%, which is 1.54 times higher than that of the total population. The prevalence rate of the elderly in rural areas is 22.6%, and that of the rural population is 7.4%, which is 2. 1 times higher than the total population. ⑥"
All these show that the more elderly people in a society, the greater the possibility of illness, and the greater the demand for medical services. Especially in rural areas, the proportion of elderly people enjoying free medical care is quite low, and the huge rural elderly population in China will exert great pressure on the relatively scarce rural health resources.
(3) The living environment of the elderly needs to be improved. For most old people, it's time for them to spend their old age in peace and enjoy family happiness. However, for the elderly who can't spend their old age safely, the old age stage is the last suffering period of their lives.
Some old people face four kinds of violations: first, physical violations. Some elderly people have a very difficult life because of mobility difficulties and lack of care from their children. Sometimes there will be cases of violent beating and scolding, abandonment and even killing of the elderly.
The second is spiritual infringement. Some young people in society are impolite, disrespectful and even bully the elderly, causing mental harm to the elderly.
The third is social infringement. With the increase of age, the discrimination ability of the elderly is also declining. Some people in society cheat them, sell inferior products to the elderly, and cheat the elderly in law and civil affairs.
The fourth is material infringement. Cases in which children and relatives seize houses and compete for property often occur in various places. Due to the development of social economy and the implementation of subsistence allowance, the problem of material infringement on the elderly has been alleviated, but it can not be ignored.
Pension funds are seriously inadequate. Due to the increase of retirees and the improvement of treatment level, the expenditure of China's endowment insurance fund is increasing every year, which leads to the increasing gap between income and expenditure in some areas. In 2000, only 37.907 million people in China received retirement pension, and in 2006, only 33.865438+0 million people received old-age insurance.
At present, the gap between the current income and expenditure of pensions is mainly solved by the transfer payment of the central government. However, experts pointed out that with the increasing elderly population in China, the task of endowment insurance will be more arduous. To continue to ensure that pensions are paid in full and on time, it is not enough to rely solely on fund collection and financial subsidies. It is necessary to further broaden the financing channels of pension funds.
(E) China's aging population has brought certain impact on the social economy:
First, the growth of the elderly population will change the dependency ratio of the population, and the increase of the dependent population will definitely increase the burden of the working population.
Second, the aging of the age structure of the labor force is accompanied by the aging of the population, which will definitely affect the improvement of labor productivity.
Third, the aging population has greatly increased the social security cost of the elderly and brought a heavy burden to the government.
Fourth, the aging population requires adjusting the existing industrial structure to meet the special needs of the elderly population for material and spiritual culture.
Fifth, the aging of the population has changed the family size and structure, weakening the family's pension function.
Three. Countermeasures and suggestions
Family pension, collective pension and social relief are the three main forms of rural pension in China. At present, family pension is still the main form of rural old-age security. In fact, family pension is a kind of "feedback" pension based on personal lifelong labor accumulation and intergenerational exchange within the family; Collective support is mainly a kind of "five guarantees" with relief nature for the lonely and widowed elderly, including decentralized support and centralized support. Social pension includes rural social pension insurance, family planning pension insurance and farmers' pension insurance system implemented in a few places.
At present, a series of major social changes closely related to farmers' pension in China have made the traditional pension model face severe challenges, and the increasing elderly population has put forward higher requirements for China's existing social security system.
To solve the problem of population aging in China, the key is to seize the favorable opportunity of light population support burden and abundant labor resources in the next 20 years, promote all-round economic and social development, establish and improve the social security system covering the whole society, and create a good population environment for building a well-off society in an all-round way.
(a) attach great importance to and pay close attention to the problem of population aging, and will solve the problem of aging into the overall strategy of national economic and social development. 1g-7 summit held in Denver in June, 1997 put forward the idea of active aging. 1In May, 1999, the EU adopted an aging policy communique, namely, "to build an EU for all ages and promote prosperity and intergenerational harmony".
The basic content of active aging strategy is to create conditions for the elderly to participate in society in various ways, so that the elderly can better adapt to the development and changes of an aging society. Advocating the strategy of active aging requires governments at all levels and coordinating agencies for aging work to implement the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly and local laws and regulations on aging, formulate development plans and related policies for the cause of aging in different periods, and take practical measures to protect the rights and interests of the elderly in accordance with the development policy of government-led, social participation and universal care and the goal of "providing old people with a sense of security, medical care, education, learning and happiness".
(two) widely mobilize social forces to set up socialized old-age care. Socialized pension mainly includes: first, diversification of investment subjects. It is necessary to change the single investment channel that relied mainly on state and collective investment in the past, and form a situation in which the state, collective, enterprises and individuals invest through multiple channels and pension institutions with various ownership systems develop together.
The second is to disclose customers. In the past, welfare institutions only faced the elderly with "three noes" and "five guarantees", and in the future they will face the elderly in the whole society.
The third is the diversification of service forms. In the past, it was basically to support the "three noes" elderly. There should be various forms of services in the future, especially through various community services, such as door-to-door, nursing and day care.
Fourth, the combination of service team professionals and volunteers.
(three) to promote medical and health institutions to actively provide health services for the elderly. It is necessary to vigorously develop community health services, and list elderly health services as an important part of community health services and incorporate them into community development planning; Vigorously develop the community health care service system. Through system reform, institutional reform, resource reorganization and other forms, we will guide grassroots medical and health institutions to transform into community service centers, transform wards into various forms of places, and provide life, health care and medical services for the elderly; Broaden financing channels, increase investment in community health, and constantly improve the economic security level of medical and health care for the elderly; Carry out various forms of health care services for the elderly, expand the medical care, nursing, health care, rehabilitation and other services for the elderly, and increase assistance to the elderly who are seriously ill and have difficulties living due to serious illness.
(4) Increase investment. In order to alleviate the increasingly severe pressure of pension payment in the future, we must implement the method of "walking on two legs". On the one hand, it is necessary to further expand the coverage of endowment insurance, strengthen fund collection, increase fund income, and play the role of the main channel of endowment insurance funds; On the other hand, we should continue to adjust the structure of fiscal expenditure and gradually increase the proportion of social security expenditure in the total fiscal expenditure. At the same time, we will further study how to enrich the social security fund by issuing lottery tickets.
(5) Strengthen the construction of welfare service system for the elderly. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of welfare service facilities for the elderly and create a good home care environment for the elderly. It is necessary to formulate and implement various preferential policies, such as giving longevity subsidies to the elderly over 100 every month; The elderly hold the "senior citizen card" in the city where their household registration is located, and can enjoy various preferential services except public transportation in other parts of the province; Urban elderly people do not bear the burden of social fund-raising and other social services, and rural elderly people do not bear voluntary labor or pay various collection fees; Courts at all levels should give priority to cases involving the elderly. If it is really difficult for the elderly to pay the legal fees when they file a lawsuit because their legitimate rights and interests are infringed, they may postpone or reduce their fees. If they need the help of a lawyer and are unable to pay the fees, they can get legal aid. At the same time, carry out moral education of respecting, supporting and helping the elderly among the whole people, and establish a good social fashion. (Author: Huan Wang, Master of Laws, Zhejiang University Law School, teaching assistant. Zhu Yaogeng: Master of Arts, Chief Clerk, Research Office, General Office of the National Population and Family Planning Commission. )