A Comprative Study on Health and Care in Aged Population between Chinese and Japanese

Abstract

Recentry mortality has decreased and Life Expectancy at birth increased, thus lengthening the aging population of China. In addition, the One Child Policy, designed in 1979 in China for slowing growth of the population, has acceralated the aging population in China more rapidly than in Japan. On the other hand, the health care of aged people is very necessary for the improvement of their Quality of Life (QOL). Concerning these social needs, Chinese Government and Japanese Aging Research Center have conducted comparative studies on health and care of aged population between China and Japan, and the author has contributed in these studies. The results were as follows: 1) Concerning the subjective health situation, the number of aged people who answered "very well" was higher in Tianjin than it was in Tokyo, even though the percentage who answered "bad" was almost the same level in both Tianjin and Tokyo. 2) Concerning the ability of daily life, active healthy aged persons account for about 90% in Tokyo, but about 80% in Tianjin. 3) As to care for aged persons, care-takers are the main consort in both Shanghai and Tokyo. In Shanghai, aged parents are usually cared for by their own sons and daughters, while in Japan, aged parents are usualy cared for by their daughters-in-law.