China News Service, Guangzhou, October 17 (Cai Minjie Mo Guanting) Recently, in Shiqi Street, Zhongshan City, relying on the National Home and Community Basic Elderly Care Service Improvement Action Project, the home of the disabled elderly Granny Liang was equipped with intelligent monitoring equipment and provided regular on-site rehabilitation care; in Meizhou and Yangjiang, veteran experts from the Guangdong Province "Silver Age Action" volunteer service team went to the grassroots to carry out voluntary services such as agricultural special assistance and educational assistance... This is the epitome of Guangdong's aging work and elderly care services.
There are 29 accredited service organizations under the "Guangdong Residential Care Service Scheme", covering mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. The picture shows the Dongguan Hongmei Hospital Nursing Home, newly included in the plan in 2026, holding a flea market for the elderly from Hong Kong and Mainland China.
As of the end of 2025, there were 19.93 million permanent elderly people aged 60 and above in Guangdong Province, with an aging rate of 15.50%. It is expected to enter a moderately aging society by 2030. Guangdong is accelerating the construction of a three-level elderly care service network at the county, town and village levels, improving the elderly care service system that is hierarchical and classified, universally accessible, covering both urban and rural areas, and sustainable development, and activating the momentum of silver service consumption and industrial development.
Since the beginning of this year, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs has jointly issued and implemented a number of policy documents related to elderly care, requiring that no less than 55% of the lottery funds used for social welfare at all levels be used to support the development of elderly care services and optimize the supply pattern of elderly care services that is based on home, community-based, professional support from institutions, and a combination of medical and nursing care.
The talent supply system has taken initial shape. There are 53,000 elderly care service employees in Guangdong, including 25,800 caregivers, all of whom have completed pre-job training. They have opened up channels for skill level and job evaluation, implemented policies such as the establishment of elderly care-related majors in colleges and universities, and the integration of industry and education between schools and enterprises, and continued to consolidate the service manpower foundation.
Elderly people interact with robots at a nursing home in Shenzhen.
In terms of silver-haired industrial parks, Guangdong has built 20 silver-haired economic characteristic industrial parks and 12 are under construction. Among them, Huangpu, Guangzhou, has introduced the country’s first district (county)-level special policy for the silver economy and built the first silver economy industrial park in a mainland city in the Greater Bay Area; Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Foshan have respectively laid out rehabilitation assistive device innovation bases, industrial alliances, and digital intelligence platforms.
At the same time, Guangdong promotes the coordinated development of cross-border elderly care. The Guangdong Civil Affairs and other departments support Hong Kong and Macao service providers in setting up elderly care institutions in Guangdong in the form of sole proprietorship, joint venture or cooperation in accordance with regulations, and enjoy the same treatment as domestic private elderly care institutions. There are currently 18 elderly care service institutions opened or operated by Hong Kong and Macao service providers in the province. There are 29 accredited service organizations under the "Guangdong Residential Care Service Scheme", covering 9 mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. Released 10 "Bay Area Standards" in the field of civil elderly care services, including the "Guidelines for Living Care for the Elderly with Dementia in Elderly Care Institutions", and continued to promote the integrated development of elderly care service standards in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
Guangdong continues to make efforts in environmentally friendly environment, legal care for the elderly, and social respect for the elderly. It systematically promotes the construction of an age-friendly society, establishes and improves the four-level elderly rights and interests protection network at the province, city, county (city, district), and street (township), and regularly carries out anti-fraud and anti-fraud special rectifications. It implements the "Legal Services to Help the Elderly and Care for the Elderly" action, focusing on the "urgent, difficult and anxious" legal issues of the elderly, such as old age, disability, difficulties, and disabilities, and providing precise public legal services; it continues to increase support for retired employees in need.
