Aging in Place

The cost to remodel his bathroom was partly paid for by government subsidies from a special program for home modification for the elderly, a measure to respond to the country’s aging society. By the end of 2024, there were 310 million people aged 60 or above in China, 22 percent of the total population. This percentage will only rise as living standards and healthcare provisions continue to improve. 　

Age-friendly communities and homes are those adapted to be inclusive, including environments, programs and services to encourage active and healthy aging. 　

According to the Fourth Sample Survey on the Living Condition of China’s Urban and Rural Older Persons conducted by the China National Committee on Aging under the State Council in 2015, 58.7 percent of respondents said their homes were not age-friendly, rising to 63.2 percent in rural areas. In response, some local governments have since then launched initiatives to subsidize home renovations for upgrading fixtures and furniture, as well as installing mobility assistance equipment such as smart beds and voice-activated devices. 　

The upper limits of subsidies offered vary according to regions, but mostly cover about 30 percent of total costs in 2025, according to the latest government policy document released this January. However, experts said that age-friendly home modification is not simply about giving money, but should provide tailored services to people with different needs, and this will require joint efforts from government, the market and civil society. 

According to Zhang Jin, an expert at the China Silver Industry Association, most home modification has been carried out by local governments on behalf of disabled or low-income seniors. As the city with the largest elderly population, Shanghai was the first to trial a home modification program, starting in 2012. The program initially provided home modification services for 1,000 low-income households that included at least one senior, and had continued until other programs took over, with funding mainly from welfare lotteries. 　

Liu Huijuan, deputy director of the aging work department of the Shanghai Bureau of Civil Affairs, said they started by making safety modifications like changing old and rusty pipes, enabling wheelchair access by leveling floors, and changing old fittings and fixtures like taps and lights. 　

Since 2016, other cities have provided similar services to certain senior groups, with most money coming from local governments. 　

In China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021- 2025), the central government proposed to support home modification for two million households that include seniors aged 80 or above, as well as disabled and low-income seniors. It had achieved this goal by the end of 2024. 　

During this time, local governments were also trying to expand home modification services to more seniors and encourage businesses to enter this field. 　

In 2021, Suzhou, for example, started offering subsidies to buy age-friendly products and services, including from e-commerce platforms. In 2019, Shanghai established an online age-friendly home modification service platform where people can search for services and apply for subsidies, Liu Huijuan said. 　

In July 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance released 300 billion yuan (US$42.9b) in ultralong special treasury bonds to support large-scale equipment renewals (including industrial and agricultural machinery) and for households to replace old consumer goods for new. It includes subsidizing products and materials for senior home modification. 　

After this, many local governments released subsidy programs. In Suzhou, authorities set the 2025 subsidy limit at 15,000 yuan (US$2,143) per household. In 2024, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province gave average subsidies of 80 percent of the final cost to qualifying households, and 100 percent for households with seniors in economic difficulties. Ye Yonghong, an official from the Shenzhen Bureau of Civil Affairs, told NewsChina that from September 2024 to December 2024, Shenzhen used ultralong special bonds to subsidize more than 16,000 households. 　

“We had 31 stores participate in the government subsidy program, and the sales data showed that shower chairs and hearing aids were the best sellers. With more products getting approved for the government subsidy, products like [adjustable] smart beds and lift chairs will see rising sales,” Liang Jiahui, who works in marketing for Shum Yip Health Investment, an age-friendly product supplier in Shenzhen, told NewsChina. 　

“We’ve participated in the government age-friendly home modification program since 2022. Since May, we’ve signed contracts with 20 households to do home modifications. The average per household expense has increased from 1,000 yuan (US$143) last year to 8,700 yuan (US$1,243) this year,” Zhao Mei, marketing director of Zhilai Digital Technology in Jiangsu Province, told NewsChina. “This year, the subsidies cover a larger group of people, and more seniors between 60-80 qualify for support. They’re more willing to pay for home modification and intelligent equipment,” she added. 　

“Because the government raised the upper limit of the subsidies, this year demand has shifted from small adjustments like buying wheelchairs or installing grab handles in bathrooms to remodeling the entire bathroom, kitchen or even a whole apartment,” Chen Wenzhong, director of the home modification office of another age-friendly product company in Jiangsu Province told NewsChina. Since May, his company received 100 more orders for age-friendly home modifications at an average of 4,000 yuan (US$571) per household, double that of 2024. 　

Shanghai’s Liu Huijuan told NewsChina that from mid-February to May 27, offline sales of age-friendly products in Shanghai reached 266 million yuan (US$37.5m), of which 68.56 million yuan (US$9.8m) came in government subsidies. 

But some experts believe that providing generic lists is too crude a method, and there should be individual appraisals for each household. 　

“It’s like doing a physical examination. Doctors can’t offer treatment until they know what disease a patient has,” Xie Hong, an aging-industry researcher at the Peking University Health Science Center, told NewsChina. “We can’t offer a senior-appropriate home modification until we’ve ascertained their specific conditions and difficulties,” she added. 　

Mo Angui, founder of Sichuan Yintang Health Technology Company agrees, saying that just installing grab rails will not cater to people’s needs. 　

“For example, if a senior has trouble walking, they need grab rails to get into every room; if they have rheumatism, they might need a special toothbrush; if they use a wheelchair, they’ll need more space for access; or if they have vision problems, they’ll need a sharp color contrast between the wall and the floor to prevent falls,” he said. 　

In 2022, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and other agencies issued a national guidance on how to appraise elderly people’s ability. It covers self-help skills, movement, mental status and social perception and participation. 　

As one of the drafters of the guidance, Xie Hong said it aims to provide a practical and standard tool to appraise elderly people’s needs and give more individual care. 　

“The guidance targets all 310 million elderly people [in China], from people in nursing homes to those who go out dancing in squares, as well as those whose abilities are weakening... Some indexes have been added to make the appraisal more precise,” Xie said.　

In 2023, providing ability appraisals for people aged 65 or above was included in China’s national list of support services for seniors. 

“Compared to other aging countries, China has 90 percent fewer age-friendly products,” according to Wang Yu, director of the Age-friendly Construction Lab under the China Architecture Design and Research Group. She told NewsChina there is not yet enough expertise in this evolving field. 　

Wang Hongbing, founder and president of Regard Care, an elderly product supplier in Jiangsu Province, told NewsChina that while the number of age-friendly product suppliers is growing, the quality of products they offer has not really improved. 　

Zhao Mei from Jiangsu Zhilai echoed. “Take armchairs for example. To ensure they are damp-proof and stable, each arm requires four stainless steel screws. But several years ago, some companies were using iron screws, while others only used two to three screws, which posed a potential safety risk,” she said, adding that age-friendly products on the Chinese market still vary sharply in quality. 　

“We need a third-party company or authorities to help provide professional quality control and certification,” Xia Mingda from Shenzhen Zuowei Technology said, adding the Chinese market lacks a wide variety of low-end aging-friendly products. 　

Some experts pointed out that the demand side is what is holding back the industry, as many Chinese seniors do not want to pay for home modifications. 　

Huang Jia is in charge of the senior home modification program at a community in Beijing’s Haidian District. She told NewsChina that many seniors want to leave their homes to their children. However, some believe that if their home is modified, it could inconvenience their children if they want to live in it. Others worry about moving out during the renovations. 　

“It’s quite a problem, because if we need to modify a whole property, it could take around six weeks, although we try hard to make it shorter,” Huang said. 　

“Some in younger age brackets don’t think they need to have it done now, and older seniors are reluctant to pay,” Wang Hongbing said. 　

Ye Yonghong, the official at the Shenzhen Bureau of Civil Affairs, agrees it is hard to persuade younger, healthier seniors to think ahead about their needs. Shenzhen, which only became a city in 1979 as part of the former Special Economic Zone, is still young. Out of the total city population of nearly 18 million, seniors account for about 7.8 percent, and of those, people aged between 60-69 make up around 70 percent of the senior population. 　

Despite government subsidies, the unwillingness of seniors to buy age-friendly products and service is partly why profits are low in the industry. 　

“According to a survey I did, few enterprises established in 2016 and 2017 have survived,” Zhang Jin of the Silver Industry Association said. 　

Wang Hongbing said that current government subsidies do not allow for the high cost of after-sales service, and many small businesses could not survive due to losses. 　

“Many seniors are unfamiliar with smart equipment. They don’t know how to charge smart doors or a power lift armchair. They get into difficulties and might ask for a refund or even complain to the community or the authorities, and this really increased after-sales service costs,” he said. 　

Wang Hongbing believes there is still too much reliance on government subsidies. When Shenzhen lowered the subsidy rate from 80 percent in 2024 to 30 percent in 2025, in line with other cities, Wang’s company only sold 300,000 yuan (US$42,857) in the first month of the age-friendly product program. The new subsidy list has a narrower range of products, with a focus on ones in higher demand, such as wheelchairs and beds, which have lower profit margins. 　

Xia argues companies have to stop relying on subsidies and start offering better products. 　

“Our company now focuses on the demands of people with disabilities and have launched intelligent walking robots, intelligent beds, multi-functional mobile hoists, things like that,” Xia said. 　

Wang Hongbing agrees, predicting that products related to rehabilitation, physiotherapy and healthcare will be in demand. “It will be a new growth point for the industry,” he said. 　

According to Chu Chu, a Chinese researcher at the University of Tokyo who studies age-friendly home modification in Japan, similar programs in China are in the very early phases, whereas Japan, as a rapidly aging society, started some six decades ago. 　

Zhou Yanmin, an architecture expert at Tsinghua University, one of the first to promote age-friendly home modification in China, believes that authorities should do more to promote age-friendly ideas and concepts among the aging population and increase public awareness of the need for good living environments for the elderly. 　

“We need to change elderly people’s ways of life so they can enjoy their later years,” Wang Yu of the Age-friendly Construction Lab said, adding while the government needs to take the lead, efforts should also be market-driven, with more participation from enterprises and social organizations to ensure a sustainable future for the age-friendly sector. 　

“Some seniors do have money, but they don’t know how to spend it. Once they realize the importance of keeping healthy and leading a rich and vibrant life, demand will rise and consumption will follow,” she said.