The Chinese government has promulgated some 200 laws, regulations and policies concerning elderly people over the past two decades, says "the Development of China's Undertakings for the Aged," a white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council on Tuesday.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the state has promulgated a number of laws, regulations and policies concerning elderly people, covering such areas as social security, welfare, services, hygiene, culture, education and sports, as well as the protection of the rights and interests of elderly people and related industries, the white paper says.

The Chinese government has promulgated and implemented the Seven-Year Development Outline on Work Concerning Elderly People in China (1994-2000), Outline of the Tenth Five-Year Plan for the Development of China's Undertakings for the Aged (2001-2005) and Eleventh Five-Year Plan for the Development of China's Undertakings for the Aged.

The state has also established a supervision and evaluation system to conduct mid-term and final checks on the implementation of these plans, to ensure that they can be properly put into practice. It has also established a system of statistical indices for undertakings for the aged and a statistical work system which will provide basic data to help the formulation of plans, supervision and evaluation in this field, according to the white paper.

Internationally, China attended the first and second world conferences on ageing held by the United Nations, and other international and regional conferences on ageing. It has joined six international organizations engaged in this work, and has established business contacts with related organizations in more than 90 countries and regions.

The ageing of China's population accelerated in the first years of the new century. By the end of 2005, there were close to 144 million people over the age of 60 in China, accounting for 11 percent of its entire population, posing a big challenge to the government on how to guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly people.

Source: Xinhua