The country should create a sound system to meet the needs of an ageing society, says a commentary in Workers' Daily. An excerpt follows:

According to a recent report, the ageing population will reach 30 percent of the country's total by 2050. This will pose new challenges to the country's economic and social development.

However, the country has been slow in psychological, material and systemic preparations for the age peak.

The size of the ageing population and the unbalanced development between rural and urban areas have revealed the true scale of the problem.

Given its limited economic force, the country's modernization drive will be heavily burdened if it does not effectively deal with the looming ageing problem.

The country should create a sound system to cope with the accelerated ageing. Only after that can it solve any emerging issues related with ageing.

In fact, due to a lack of system arrangements, social security work in some regions has been under huge pressure, and their social security funds are even suffering serious shortfalls.

And due to a lack of a system, various social services bodies aimed at solving ageing-related problems have not been set up in many regions. As a result, the rights and interests of the elderly population have not been effectively protected.

That has not only affected the lives of the old but also those of other groups.

In some regions, what local officials are more concerned with are the tangible economic growth indexes, rather than coordinated social development.

The population issue relates with employment, economic structure, education, social security, marriage and family issues.

Thus, the country should try to develop a system to actively face the challenges of ageing society and guarantee the smooth advancement of its modernization drive.

(China Daily March 6, 2006)