A recent report issued by Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Aging Well Association (CAWA) called for comprehensive arrangement of policies and institutions to help the Chinese age in a healthy way.

Healthy and active aging may be the essential way to respond to the country's fast population aging, said Liu Yuanli, director of the CAWA and chief editor of the report published on Jan. 26.

The concept of "healthy aging" is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.

"Functional ability is about having the capabilities that enable all people to be and do what they have reason to value," according to a WHO statement on its website.

The report said by 2026, China will be "an aged society," with more than 14 percent of the total population aged 65 and above.

Between 2000 and 2018, the population of people aged 60 and above increased from 126 to 249 million, up from 10.2 percent of the country's total population to 17.9 percent.

"The country's healthcare and other social security systems are not well prepared for the fast growth of the elderly population," Liu said.

He suggested immediate actions to form a policy system and introduce institutions to provide accessible, acceptable and high-quality health care and counselling services for the elderly and help them prevent and control diseases.

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