On January 15, the General Office of the State Council issued opinions on developing a silver economy to improve the well-being of the elderly. The opinions include: overall requirements; developing people's livelihood undertakings to solve urgent problems and worries; expanding product supply and improving quality levels; focusing on diversified needs and cultivating potential industries; strengthening factor guarantees and optimizing the development environment, with a total of 26 items, as detailed below.
Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Developing the Silver Economy to Improve the Wellbeing of the Elderly
State Council issued [2024] No. 1
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, all ministries and commissions of the State Council, and all agencies directly under the State Council:
The silver economy is the sum of a series of economic activities such as providing products or services to the elderly and preparing for the aging stage. It involves a wide range of areas, a long industrial chain, diverse business formats, and huge potential. In order to actively respond to the aging of the population, cultivate new driving forces for economic development, and improve people's quality of life, with the approval of the State Council, the following opinions are hereby put forward on developing a silver economy and improving the well-being of the elderly.
- Overall requirements
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, base ourselves on the new development stage, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, strive to promote high-quality development, and adhere to the principle of We should adhere to the people-centered development concept, implement the national strategy of actively responding to the aging population, insist on doing our best and within our capabilities, promote a better combination of effective markets and promising governments, promote the coordination of public institutions and industries, and accelerate the scale, standardization and clustering of the silver economy. We should develop in a professional and brand-oriented manner, cultivate high-end products and high-quality service models, allow the elderly to share the fruits of development, enjoy a happy old age, and continuously realize the people's yearning for a better life.
- Develop people’s livelihood undertakings and solve emergencies and worries
(1) Expand meal assistance services for the elderly. Guide catering companies, property service companies, and public charity organizations to develop meal assistance for the elderly, and promote elderly care institutions to provide meal assistance services for the elderly to the society. Guide business entities such as takeout platforms and logistics companies to participate in the delivery of meals for the elderly. Improve the diversified financing mechanism and allow qualified places to provide certain operating subsidies or comprehensive incentive subsidies to elderly meal assistance service agencies. Support localities to provide subsidies or issue vouchers for elderly people who enjoy meal assistance services in accordance with regulations based on their level of economic development and financial resources.
(2) Expand home-based elderly care services. Encourage elderly care institutions, housekeeping companies, and property service companies to provide door-to-door home care services. Support the development of various business formats such as community bathing points, mobile bathing vehicles, and household bathing assistance. Cultivate and develop professional elderly care agencies, support sharing resources with elderly care institutions, and expand care scenarios. Encourage retail service providers, social work service agencies, etc. to expand their service functions for the elderly and provide services such as daily necessities purchasing, housekeeping appointments, collection and payment, and registered medicine collection.
(3) Develop community convenience services. Focus on the quarter-hour community living circle, build and renovate a number of community convenience consumer service centers and other facilities, guide the rational layout of physical stores of daily products for the elderly, and encourage shopping malls, supermarkets, etc. to open special areas or convenient windows for the elderly. Promote the construction of complete communities, develop community-embedded service facilities, and promote logistics distribution, smart express cabinets, vegetable express trains, etc. into the community.
(4) Optimize health services for the elderly. Strengthen the construction of geriatric medicine departments in general hospitals and traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, improve the level of prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases, and promote the transformation of scientific research results in the field of geriatric health. Accelerate the construction of rehabilitation hospitals, nursing homes (centers, stations), and hospice care institutions, strengthen the capacity building of rehabilitation nursing and health management in grassroots medical and health institutions, encourage the expansion of integrated medical and nursing care services, and promote the construction of age-friendly medical institutions. Encourage medical institutions to extend rehabilitation services to communities and families through day rehabilitation, home beds, home visits, etc., support the development of elderly rehabilitation assessment, rehabilitation guidance, rehabilitation follow-up and other services, and expand the coverage of family doctor contract services. Expand the application of traditional Chinese medicine in the field of health care, develop traditional Chinese medicine services such as prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases and chronic diseases, and promote the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation equipment.
(5) Improve elderly care services. Guide local governments to implement differentiated subsidies for ordinary beds and nursing beds in nursing homes. Increase the construction and renovation of elderly care institutions, improve the care and service capabilities of disabled elderly people, and appropriately add special care areas for the elderly with cognitive disabilities. Promote the adjacent construction and resource sharing of medical and health institutions and elderly care institutions. Establish a service referral and connection mechanism between home, community and institutional elderly care.
(6) Enrich cultural and sports services for the elderly. Build a national university for the elderly and promote open education to the society. Relying on the National University for the Elderly, we will build a national public service platform for elderly education and establish a resource database and teacher database for elderly education. Solve complex TV operation problems and make it easier for the elderly to watch TV. Encourage editors to publish large-print books suitable for the elderly. Develop content industries such as literature, radio, film and television, music, and short videos for the elderly, and support exchanges and exhibitions between elderly cultural groups and performance teams. Organize and carry out various sports events suitable for the elderly. Strengthen the construction of venues for ball games, chess and card games, and other activities, and support the off-peak use of sports venues.
(7) Improve rural elderly care services. Make full use of support service facilities (nursing homes) for the extremely poor in rural areas, and use entrusted operations and other methods to provide elderly care services. Support local elderly care institutions, catering establishments, etc. to increase meal assistance functions. Explore and establish an incentive and evaluation mechanism for elderly care voluntary services, and carry out mutual-aid elderly care in rural areas. Explore the adoption of the "company (social organization) + farmer + cooperative" business model to actively develop rural residential-style elderly care services and other rural specialty elderly care industries.
- Expand product supply and improve quality levels
(8) Cultivate silver economic business entities. Give full play to the leading and exemplary role of state-owned enterprises, encourage and guide state-owned enterprises to actively expand businesses related to the silver economy based on their main responsibilities and main businesses. When state-owned enterprises develop and deploy industries related to the silver economy, or provide facilities for elderly care services, relevant investments will be taken into overall consideration in the assessment of operating performance. Give full play to the role of the private economy, improve the communication mechanism between government and enterprises, break down unreasonable market access barriers, and promote direct access to silver economic policies, funds, information, etc.
(9) Promote the development of industrial clusters. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu and Chongqing and other regions, about 10 high-level silver economic and industrial parks are planned and laid out. Rely on platforms such as free trade pilot zones, various development zones, national service industry comprehensive demonstration zones for expanding opening-up, and national services trade innovative development demonstration zones to promote cross-regional and international cooperation in the silver economic field.
(10) Improve the effectiveness of industry organizations. Encourage the establishment of social organizations in the silver economic field in accordance with the law, support enterprises, scientific research institutes, industry associations, etc. in forming industrial cooperation platforms or consortiums to deepen industrial research, resource integration, and industry self-discipline. Strengthen public data sharing and support industry organizations in carrying out industrial operation monitoring analysis and information release.
(11) Promote brand development. Cultivate leading enterprises in the silver economy and support chain and group development. Encourage industry associations to organize high-quality channel matching meetings by category. Relying on China Brand Day, National "Quality Month", National Intellectual Property Publicity Week and other activities, we actively carry out public welfare publicity of Silver Economy's independent brands. Use platforms such as the China International Import Expo, China Import and Export Fair, China International Fair for Trade in Services, and China International Consumer Goods Expo to display and promote cutting-edge technologies and products and services for the silver economy, and hold industry docking and other activities.
(12) Carry out high-standard pilot actions. Carry out standardization pilot projects in the fields of elderly care services, culture and tourism, elderly products, aging-friendly transformation, and intelligent technology applications. Products with independent research and development, leading technology, and market recognition will be given priority to be included in the guide to upgraded and innovative consumer goods. Make good use of quality control and technology evaluation laboratories in various fields, build a high-level, professional third-party quality testing platform, and carry out quality evaluation, verification, and certification work.
(13) Broaden consumption and supply channels. Combined with traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and Double Ninth Festival and activities such as "Respect for the Aged Month", guide e-commerce platforms and large supermarkets to hold themed shopping festivals, design special interfaces for the elderly, support the establishment of special consumption areas for seniors, and encourage children to place orders online and the elderly to place orders offline Experience services and cultivate a number of characteristic event brands. Create a number of online platforms and offline supermarkets that allow the elderly to consume with confidence and make shopping convenient.
- Focus on diversified needs and cultivate potential industries
(14) Strengthen innovation in elderly products. Strengthen the research and design of clothing fabrics, style structures, auxiliary devices, etc. that are suitable for aging, and develop functional clothing, shoes and hats for the elderly. Encourage the development of health foods and special medical formula foods suitable for the chewing, swallowing and nutritional requirements of the elderly. Implement actions to promote high-quality development of the home furnishing industry, focusing on the development and application of daily products suitable for aging and leisure care products for the elderly. Improve the product promotion catalog of products for the elderly, conduct timely evaluation and make dynamic adjustments. Guide vehicle manufacturers to develop models that meet national technical standards and meet the barrier-free travel needs of the elderly.
(15) Create a new business format for smart health and elderly care. Improve the promotion catalog of smart health elderly care products and services, promote the integrated application of new generation information technology and smart devices such as mobile terminals, wearable devices, and service robots in homes, communities, institutions, etc., and develop health management, elderly care monitoring, and psychological care. Consolation smart products promote the application of smart nursing robots, home service robots, smart anti-lost terminals and other smart devices. Encourage the use of virtual reality and other technologies to carry out display experiences of elderly products and services.
(16) Vigorously develop the rehabilitation assistive device industry. Promote the upgrade of traditional function-compensating rehabilitation auxiliary devices such as hearing aids, orthotics, crutches, and prostheses, and develop life care products such as smart wheelchairs, lifts, and rehabilitation care beds. Expand the supply of equipment and products such as cognitive impairment assessment training, incontinence rehabilitation training, medication and care reminders, and sleep disorder intervention.
(17) Develop anti-aging industry. Deepen research on skin aging mechanisms, human aging models, human hair health, etc., and strengthen the R&D and application of genetic technology, regenerative medicine, laser radio frequency, etc. in the field of anti-aging. Promote the in-depth integration of biotechnology such as genetic testing and molecular diagnosis with the delay of geriatric diseases, and develop early screening products and services for geriatric diseases. Promote the research and development, formula and production process design and development of cosmetic raw materials.
(18) Enrich and develop pension financial products. Support financial institutions to develop pension financial business in accordance with laws and regulations, and provide pension financial planning, fund management and other services. Enrich personal pension products and promote the development of exclusive commercial pension insurance. Actively develop commercial medical insurance and commercial long-term care insurance, carry out pilot work on liability switching between life insurance and long-term care insurance, and strengthen the connection between the research and development of pension financial products and health, elderly care and other services.
(19) Expand tourism service formats. Improve service facilities such as hotels and B&Bs where all ages can enjoy fun and family-friendly activities, and encourage the development of family travel products. Launch a number of typical cases of elderly tourism development, and expand and promote nostalgic tourism, youth tourism and other themed products. Replace age restrictions with health status, improve relevant regulations to facilitate travel for the elderly, improve the complaint and reporting mechanism, and strengthen supervision. Develop travel insurance business for the elderly and encourage the expansion of travel insurance coverage. Establish a nationwide cooperation platform for the elderly care industry, cultivate destinations for elderly care residents, and carry out promotion activities for elderly care residents.
(20) Promote aging-friendly transformation. Promote the barrier-free construction of public spaces and consumer places, incorporate them into the urban physical examination indicator system, and conduct regular evaluations of the implementation of land and space planning. Carry out aging-friendly renovation of homes, encourage the installation of elevators in old communities, and equip homes with intelligent safety monitoring equipment. Carry out a project to improve digital aging capabilities, promote the transformation of Internet applications, and retain offline services for high-frequency matters involving the elderly. Promote the instructions and promotional materials of senior foods, medicines, supplies, etc. to be suitable for aging.
Strengthen factor protection and optimize the development environment
(21) Strengthen the application of scientific and technological innovation. Focusing on key areas such as rehabilitation assistive devices and smart health and elderly care, a number of forward-looking and strategic scientific and technological research projects will be planned. Support scientific research activities in the silver economy through central fiscal science and technology plans (special projects, funds, etc.) to improve the level of independent research and development. Increase special support for the silver economy through high-quality industrial development and the development of strategic emerging industries.
(22) Improve land and housing security. Scientifically prepare land supply plans to ensure land needs for elderly care service facilities and silver economic industries. New residential areas should set up community elderly care service facilities according to the standard zoning and hierarchical planning with per capita land use of not less than 0.1 square meters. Old residential areas should be supplemented according to local conditions. Counties (cities, districts) with a moderate or above aging population should increase the amount of newly built residential areas. Residential area configuration standards. Support training and nursing institutions in transforming and developing elderly care services. On the premise of ensuring safety, support the use of idle commercial, office, industrial, warehousing and other existing places to rebuild elderly care service facilities. For existing space that has been evaluated and verified through planning and implementation, the floor area ratio can be appropriately increased in accordance with the law to improve urban service functions.
(23) Strengthen fiscal and financial support. Optimize the scope of special projects related to investment within the central budget, support qualified new elderly care service facilities to be equipped with information management systems, and promote the use of intelligent artificial replacement equipment. Support qualified silver economic and industrial projects through local government special bonds. Make good use of the special refinancing program for inclusive elderly care, and provide credit support in accordance with market-oriented principles to the operations of qualified public welfare inclusive elderly care institutions, the construction of home community elderly care systems, and the manufacturing enterprises of elderly products included in relevant catalogs. All types of financial institutions are encouraged to increase support for the construction of elderly care service facilities and silver economic industry projects on the premise of adhering to their functional positioning and complying with laws and regulations.
(24) Promote the construction of talent team. Support and guide general universities and vocational colleges to add majors related to the silver economy based on their own advantages and social needs, and reasonably determine the enrollment scale of gerontology, pharmacy, elderly care services, health services, nursing and other majors. Encourage the development of vocational skill level training and evaluation such as elderly care, and support school-enterprise cooperation in building an industry-education integrated training base. Conservate the human resources of the elderly and support them in participating in civilized practices, charity, volunteer services, science, education, culture and health and other undertakings.
(25) Improve data element support. Establish a mechanism for the orderly opening and rational development and utilization of data in the silver economy, coordinate government and social data resources, strengthen the sharing of elderly care-related data at the national level, and promote the development of industries empowered by data elements. Regulate the collection and use of personal information in intelligent products and services in accordance with the law, strengthen technical monitoring and supervision and inspection, and ensure security protection and risk control.
(26) Combating elder-related fraud. Extensively carry out publicity and education activities on fraud awareness and prevention for the elderly, and severely crack down on infringements in the name of investing in "senior care projects", selling "senior care products", claiming to "house for retirement", agency "pension insurance", and carrying out "senior care assistance" in accordance with the law Various types of fraud and crimes involving the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly.
Developing a silver economy, meeting the multi-faceted needs of the elderly, and properly solving the social problems brought about by the aging population are related to the overall development of the country and the well-being of the people. All regions and departments must, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, improve working mechanisms, strengthen overall coordination, and promote the implementation of various tasks. Major matters will be reported promptly and in accordance with procedures.
Office of the State Council
January 11, 2024
