• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • News
  • Files
    • Silver Economy In-depth Reports
    • Talking heads
    • Studies and Reports
    • The ageing population : Numbers and Statistics
  • International Festival
  • Calendar
  • Newsletter
    • Suscribe to Newsletter
  • Contact us
  • EN/FR

Silver Economy and Ageing Well

Silver Economy web portal

Adapting services to the elderly: Beijing uses a new multi-purpose card to track seniors

May 31, 2016 par Editorial staff 1 Comment

SilverEco Festival

Share this article

In Beijing, all people aged 60 and over are given a multifunction card allowing the Chinese government to collect data on their daily lives and needs. The goal is to adapt public budgeting accordingly and provide age-appropriate services.

Changing demographics: Adapting society to the elderly

People over 60 need only swipe one card to access all public transport, public parks, consult a medical practitioner, or buy groceries. The government uses senior cards to track all activities and adapt public services to its rapidly-ageing population. At the beginning of each month, the card is toppeChinese seniors playing cardsd up with 100 yuan; users also have the option to transfer additional money from a bank account.

The country is still coping with the aftermath of its one-child policy, which has recently come to an end after staying in effect for nearly 40 years and putting a noticeable dent in Chinese demographics; Chinese authorities now have to deal with an ever-decreasing population of working age and an ever-increasing senior population, which stands at 3 million at present. This tool is just one of the many ways the government intends to use big data to better harness resources and adapt public budgeting to the needs of its 1.4 billion people. Officials hope the system will help them predict mobility loss, among relevant trends, in order to set up age-appropriate infrastructures.

The government also aims to improve home-based care; thus the card is also a means to identifying seniors living on their own, their incomes, as well as the frequency at which they require services such as meal delivery or cleaning professionals, all of those can be paid for directly using the card. This system could thus prove a useful tool in fostering autonomy among home-based seniors.

China takes the lead in integrated technologies

Beijing is not alone in its commitment to the elderly; other cities have already implemented social security cards allowing seniors to use public transport and consult health professionals for free. The southern province of Guangdong has also announced that its public strategies would soon undergo a transformation to integrate big data. By the end of 2018, this system will be extended to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces and will involve nearly 20 million Chinese seniors, cementing China’s commitment to its aging population.

According to Rogier Creemers, an Oxford scholar dedicated  to researching China’s governance of technology, the extent of China’s integration of big data into public policies sets up an unprecedented example. The Chinese Communist party acting as a unifying force is one explanation for the high level of coordination it managed to reach.


Share this article

Reader Interactions




Comments

  1. Arnulfo says

    November 1, 2018 at 4:30 AM

    If you pay less-than the minimum, you might acquire the goldmine
    but will not be capable of encase it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

SilverEco & Ageing Well International Festival

Book your free B2B Pass now !

SilverEco Festival More information about the Festival

Search - Silver Economy portal

FILES

Funeral: The death business is healthy

chute-perosnne-agee-prevention-fall

Fall of the elderly : causes, consequences and prevention


Footer

Silver economy

> Silver Economy : definition
> Silver Economy News
> Subscribe to the SilverEco Newsletter

ON-MEDIO

> About
> Contact us
> Legal mention
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

SilverEco
Ageing Well and Silver Economy

silver economie

silver economie

silver economie

© 2008-2022 ONMEDIO - All rights reserved · SilverEco ® - Gérontechnologie ®
Photos credits : Shutterstock - On Medio and partners