There are 16 million left-behind elderly in rural areas. Who will solve their pension problems?
The peak of aging is coming soon, and the issue of pensions has attracted wide attention.
Among them, the problem of elderly left-behind elderly in rural areas is particularly prominent.
Left-behind elderly in rural areas may reach 16 million
The National Health and Health Commission recently released the 2020 National Aging Development Bulletin, showing that the level of aging in China is significantly different between urban and rural areas. The aging level in rural areas is significantly higher than that in urban areas.
The proportions of the rural population of 60 years and over and 65 years and over in the total rural population were 23.81% and 17.72%, respectively, which were 7.99 higher than the proportion of the urban population of 60 years and over and 65 years and over in the total urban population. Percentage points, 6.61 percentage points.
According to the seventh national census data, as of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, there were 264.04 million people aged 60 and over in the country, accounting for 18.70% of the total population; 190.64 million people aged 65 and over in the country, accounting for the total 13.50% of the population.
In other words, the proportion of the rural population aged 60 and over, 65 years and over in the total rural population is 5.11 percentage points and 4.22 percentage points higher than the national average.
The proportion of the rural elderly population is significantly higher than the national average and higher than the urban level. One major reason is the large influx of young people from rural areas into the cities.
In this case, the aging of the population outflow areas is more serious.
According to data from the seventh national census, a reporter from China Business News reported on 336 prefecture-level and above cities outside of Sansha City (including municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities under separate state planning, provincial capitals, ordinary prefecture-level cities, prefectures, and leagues other than Sansha City). , Hereinafter referred to as "cities"). After combing through the age composition of the population, it is found that 149 cities across the country have entered a deep aging stage, 11 of which have entered the super-aging stage, mainly from the central Jiangsu region, Sichuan, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia , Mainly in small and medium-sized cities.
In most cities, due to the insufficient development of local industries and the outflow of working-age population, the elderly population is relatively high.
A large number of people outflow from rural areas in underdeveloped areas, causing rural families to become increasingly "empty nests".
According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2016, there were 16 million left-behind elderly in rural areas across the country, accounting for about 12% of the total rural elderly population.
According to the seven-person population data, the number of people living in rural areas in China will be 509.79 million in 2020, accounting for 36.11%.
Among them, people aged 60 and above accounted for 23.81%, and the total number was 121.38 million.
If calculated according to the aforementioned 12% of the left-behind elderly, there are approximately 14.57 million people.
Taking into account the rapid population agglomeration in central cities, big cities, and metropolitan areas in recent years, and the rapid increase in population aging, it is generally estimated that the proportion of left-behind elderly in rural areas will exceed 2016, and the total number is still as high as 16 million.
CBN reporters combed through the population statistics of births in the past 60 years and found that after 1962, China has entered a peak period of births that lasted more than ten years. Therefore, China will usher in the peak of retirement next year, especially when the birth population in 1963 was as high as 2,934. 10,000 people, and an average of 27 million people in the following two years.
With the arrival of the peak of aging next year, the problem of left-behind elderly in rural areas will become more prominent.
The huge group of left-behind elderly people is also facing various difficulties.
For example, due to the absence of children all the year round, the rural left-behind elderly have a serious mental emptiness and loneliness has become a common phenomenon; due to the low pensions, many left-behind elderly people have a high proportion of employment in order to maintain a basic life; many elderly people simply cope with diet, because their children have long worked outside the country. , It is difficult to take care of their daily life, and often causes minor illnesses to become serious illnesses.
Let the elderly follow their children into the city
How to alleviate the pressure on the elderly in rural areas and solve the problem of the elderly left-behind in rural areas?
Here, reducing the proportion of left-behind elders and shortening the time and space distance between children and elders are critical.
Many elderly people want to live with their children in big cities, but are limited by housing, medical care and other issues. There are many difficulties in realizing this idea, so they can only continue to stay in their hometowns.
In particular, in the past ten years, a large number of college graduates from rural areas have entered Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other big cities to work. Although a large proportion of them have hukou in big cities, they have high housing prices and late purchases of houses. The reason is that many people face problems such as insufficient housing space.
Professor Dong Yuzheng, a population expert and dean of the Guangdong Provincial Population Development Research Institute, analyzed by China Business News that in the process of urbanization, the urbanization of the rural migrant population is advancing rapidly, but at the same time, there are relatively more and more left-behind elderly in rural areas. They are also getting older, and the problem of increasingly unhealthy living conditions has become more prominent.
"Some of the children of these elderly people have gone to work in cities. Some have lived in cities for a long time, and some college students from rural areas have mostly worked in the cities after they finish their studies. As they set up a family and start a business, they will also bring their parents to the elderly. Received to live together in the city." Dong Yuzheng said.
At the same time, with the advent of the age of three children, from the perspective of encouraging childbirth, creating conditions for more elderly people to enter the city to look after their grandchildren is also very positive.
Dong Yuzheng said that in the era of the three-child policy, the population structure will be gradually changed, and the structure of population flow will also be changed, thus putting forward new requirements for housing, living, medical services, and so on.
Dong Yuzheng analyzed that if the elderly live in the city, they must also enjoy the city's public transportation, medical care, and cultural services.
Therefore, from the perspective of the development of the entire city and the operation of the system, when considering the layout and actual use of public services in large cities with a large influx of people, this factor must be taken into consideration, so that these elderly people who enter the city should also be able to In a certain sense, they can enjoy basic public services, so as to provide more support and guarantee for their children to contribute to the development of the city.
Ding Changfa, an associate professor in the Department of Economics of Xiamen University, said that for the developed coastal areas and large cities, the future will still speed up the shortcomings of public service industries such as housing, education, and medical care, increase the supply of public products, and allow migrant workers to accelerate their citizenship. , To better integrate into the city, which is also conducive to the development of the local service industry and manufacturing industry.
Promote the rational distribution of industries
However, compared with the high housing prices and higher living costs in big cities, many migrant workers are engaged in labor-intensive industries and general service industries, and their overall income level is not high. In addition to the household registration factor, it is necessary to It is more difficult for parents and children to live together with them.
Therefore, relevant experts believe that from the perspective of industrial development, it is necessary to speed up the rational distribution of industries among regions in the future, and shorten the time and space distance between adult children and their parents.
At present, in first- and second-tier cities, especially in developed coastal areas, with the rise of various cost factors such as land, labor, and housing prices, the development of traditional manufacturing no longer has advantages.
The concentration of human resources, science and technology and other essential resources in these places can focus on the development of modern service industries, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries.
In contrast, small and medium-sized cities, counties, and towns with large populations are the main battlefields for the development of labor-intensive manufacturing.
Relevant experts interviewed said that large cities and coastal areas should speed up the adjustment of industrial structure, relieve non-core functions, and accelerate the transfer of general manufacturing to small and medium cities.
Small and medium-sized cities and county towns should also improve the software and hardware environment, and undertake more industrial settlements, so that more agricultural transfer populations can be employed and urbanized nearby.
In addition, it is crucial to speed up making up for shortcomings, advance the construction of the rural elderly care service system, and promote "mutually assisted elderly care" measures to further meet the living needs and spiritual comfort of the rural left-behind elderly.
Dong Yuzheng said that it is necessary to provide relatively stable and sustainable and effective old-age security for those old people who continue to live in the countryside, as well as those who now live in cities but who will return to the countryside in the future.
In the process of implementing the strategy of rural revitalization, by strengthening and perfecting the construction of rural communities, especially the construction of rural public services, provide facilities, places and supporting conditions for their elderly care.
It is necessary to encourage the elderly to support and help each other and develop mutual assistance for the elderly.
(Author: Lin Xiaozhao)