China's Long-Term Care Insurance Covers 300 Million; Nursery Places Exceed 6.6 Million
China's eldercare and childcare systems are advancing, with long-term care insurance now covering over 300 million people and nearly 1.93 million receiving benefits. The country has 126,000 childcare institutions providing more than 6.6 million places. Policies include subsidies, tax breaks, and special bonds to support infrastructure, while local governments offer childcare subsidies of RMB 3,600 per child annually until age three.
China's eldercare and childcare service systems continue to develop. In recent years, the aging sector has made progress in social security, eldercare services, health support, the silver economy, and age-friendly society construction. The allocation of eldercare resources is increasingly tailored to the daily lives of older people, with the service system shifting from general facility provision to identifying and responding to differentiated needs. The demand for long-term care, meal and cleaning assistance, rehabilitation nursing, and home-based services is particularly acute among the oldest, disabled, and those living alone.
According to statistics, in 2025, more than 300 million people were enrolled in long-term care insurance, with nearly 1.93 million receiving benefits and over 13,000 designated service institutions. A preliminary institutional chain covering disability assessment, cost payment, and care services has been established. The accelerated development of long-term care insurance provides more stable institutional support for disability care. As older people's spending power and attitudes shift, silver consumption is becoming an important growth driver for expanding domestic demand. Issuing consumption subsidies for eldercare services to moderately and severely disabled older people returns choice to them, allowing them to select service providers and direct spending based on actual needs. This demand-driven model helps stimulate market vitality.
Universal childcare service system construction is advancing in parallel. In Shizhu County, Chongqing, multiple departments have coordinated to build a diversified childcare system featuring integrated childcare and education, public welfare guarantees, workplace supplements, and community empowerment. Existing kindergartens have been revitalized with standardized nursery classes, with coverage extending to urban and rural areas. Combined with fiscal subsidies and tax concessions, the minimum monthly fee for universal childcare is RMB 420. Nationwide, there are 126,000 childcare institutions with a total of more than 6.6 million places. Local governments are gradually forming diverse supply models, including kindergarten extension, community-embedded, workplace-supported, and family-based childcare.
Multiple support policies continue to be implemented. Ultra-long special treasury bonds focus on supporting childcare infrastructure construction. Childcare institutions pay residential rates for water, electricity, gas, and heating. Many regions provide childcare subsidies of RMB 3,600 per child annually until age three. In 2026, the National Health Commission, together with other departments, will continue optimizing the layout of childcare resources, increase central budget investment support, deepen universal childcare pilot construction, and promote regular collaboration mechanisms between maternal and child health institutions and childcare providers.
Currently, the "one old, one young" livelihood undertaking is transitioning from pilot exploration to systematic establishment. The policy focus is shifting from supply-driven to supply-demand coordination, with service delivery transforming into integrated public service supply and industry cultivation.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has formulated the Guidelines for the Construction and Management of a Three-Level Urban-Rural Elderly Care Service Network. This network consists of county-level comprehensive elderly care service management platforms, township (street) regional elderly care service centers, and village (community) elderly care service facility stations, forming a full-chain elderly care service supply pattern covering urban and rural areas, home, community, and institutions. Universal childcare services emphasize both expansion and quality improvement. Local governments rely on childcare-education integration reforms to revitalize existing resources, expand universal childcare places, and optimize urban-rural service layouts. They also offer flexible services such as hourly care and holiday care for flexible employment and shift workers, while deepening the integration of medical and childcare services to channel medical resources into childcare institutions.