Beijing's centenarian record puts focus on eldercare

Beijing's centenarian population reached a record 1,801 by the end of 2025, an increase of 262 from a year earlier, highlighting the capital's growing elderly population and the need to expand senior care services, according to an official report released on Wednesday.

The report, jointly released by the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau and the municipal office on aging, showed that the centenarians included 633 men and 1,168 women, equivalent to 12.4 per 100,000 registered residents. Haidian district had the largest number, with 435.

Lin Hang, deputy governor of Haidian district, said the district plans to establish 26 elderly care service centers over the next five years, expanding access to services within a 15-minute walk of residents' homes.

The district will also promote the integration of healthcare and elderly care services, develop personalized health profiles, and pilot smart elderly care communities and nursing homes.

At an elderly care service station in the second community of Xuefushu Jiayuan in Haidian, visitors can experience a model smart home equipped with companion robots and smart home devices that respond to voice commands.

Such technologies are already making their way into local households.

Hu Shufang, 82, and her husband, Ji Caixiang, 83, have each installed a millimeter-wave radar sensor beside their bed.

The devices operate around the clock without requiring users to wear wristbands or attach sensors to their bodies.

The sensors can detect unusual situations, such as interruptions in breathing or a person getting out of bed and failing to return for an extended period, the couple said.

Elderly care services are also expanding in Beijing's suburban districts. In June, Beijing Ditan Hospital opened an elderly nursing care center at its Shunyi campus, the first facility of its kind in the city established by a top-tier Grade A tertiary hospital.

"Unlike traditional elderly care facilities that focus primarily on daily assistance, we draw on the hospital's medical resources to provide multidisciplinary care," said Li Zhenhua, deputy director of the hospital's Shunyi Clinical Center.

"Our services bring together medical treatment, nursing, rehabilitation, psychological support and nutrition."

The report also showed that Beijing had 699,000 registered residents aged 80 and above by the end of 2025, accounting for 4.8 percent of its registered population. Chaoyang and Haidian districts had the largest numbers of seniors in this age group, with 133,000 and 130,000, respectively.

Zhao Yang, a 74-year-old resident of Chaoyang district, said improvements in community services and technology had made elderly care more convenient, particularly for older people whose children are busy or live far away.

However, she said older people still value emotional support and companionship from their families, which technology and community services cannot replace.