An official survey conducted recently gave an insight into the basic conditions of elderly people in cities and rural areas.

The survey interviewed 20,255 pensioners aged above 60 - 10,171 from cities and 10,084 from rural areas - from 20 provincial-level areas.

Education

Most of the elderly received comparatively less education than younger generations.

A total of 43 per cent of those pensioners living in cities did not receive education in any form, while the figure in rural areas was higher at 57.3 per cent.

Only 4.2 per cent of urban pensioners received at least a college education while the number for elderly rural folk decreased dramatically to 0.2 per cent.

Family Structure

Pensioners have 3.7 children on average, and rural people have 3.9 children.

In urban areas, 35.1 per cent of senior citizens live with their spouses or on their own in their own house, while 60.9 per cent live with children and 4 per cent live elsewhere.

In rural areas, the rate changes to 32.9, 63.6 and 3.5 per cent respectively.

Income

Elderly people in cities have a monthly income of 720 yuan (US$87) on average, while rural people only take home 153 yuan (US$18) on average.

The huge income gap is mainly due to retirement pensions. Most urban citizens have a pension, while virtually none of the rural elderly enjoy such a bonus.

But owing to the relatively low cost of living in rural areas, rural senior citizens can basically support themselves with a small income.

Living Preferences

More than 55 per cent of urban citizens prefer to live with their children, while 13 per cent have no preference and 31.8 per cent do not like to live with their children.

The number changes greatly in rural areas. Just 44.5 per cent prefer to live with their children, while 42.3 per cent are willing to live on their own. The remainder did not show a preference.

Relations with Children

The survey divided filial fealty into four categories: excellent, good, average, bad.

Elderly people in urban areas rated it as 17.3, 58.9, 22.2 and 1.6 per cent respectively.

Answers from rural senior citizens rated it as 14.6, 58.8, 24.7 and 1.9 per cent.

The feeling towards children was the one category in the survey where the figures were similar for both the urban and rural elderly.

Attitude Towards Residential Homes

A relatively high living standards meant 38 per cent of urban pensioners view the living conditions in residential homes as good.

Some 53.5 per cent thought the living conditions were average while the rest, 8.4 per cent, believed the conditions to be poor.

In rural areas, 48.9 per cent of elderly people perceived the living conditions in residential homes to be average, 10.9 per cent said they were bad while 40.1 per cent considered the services to be good.

Care Services

The survey found that 6.8 per cent of those interviewed responded that they needed specialist care from professional nurses.

Demand among those over 75 is higher with 15.6 per cent saying they need such care.

Service content varies but mainly concentrates on medical care, housework, preparing dinner and chatting.

Satisfaction

Elderly people in cities are more satisfied than their rural counterparts, though the percentage of satisfaction is also high in rural areas.

Some 64 per cent of urban senior citizens are satisfied with their living conditions, with 31 per cent considering them to be good and 5 per cent feeling frustrated.

In rural areas, 45 per cent of pensioners are satisfied with their lives, 44.8 per cent think they are good, while 10.2 per cent consider them to be bad.

This tendency could also be reflected by another index which showed that 24.2 per cent of urban pensioners feel lonely at times in comparison with 35.1 per cent of rural elderly folk.

(China Daily November 19, 2002)