5 lakh elderly go missing in China annually

At least, five lakh old people, a majority of them women, go missing every year in China due to inadequate medicare and migration of their children to cities, according to a survey released on Sunday.

The survey released by the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute and a leading news platform, Toutiao, said, 1,370 senior citizens, at an average age of 76, went missing every day. Women account for 58 per cent of the total missing persons, it added.

The survey noted that many of the missing suffer from mental illness, with 72 per cent suffering from some form of memory impairment and 25 per cent diagnosed with dementia, reported state-run Xinhua news agency.

The surve said many cases were related to poverty and the inadequate care provided by family members as the old persons migrate to large cities in search of higher wages.

The survey calls for the establishment of a national network to record and find missing people, and recommends that aid centres arrange specialist personnel to look for missing persons.

It also suggests that local governments in areas with large population outflows cooperate with social groups to assess the living conditions of seniors citizens at home, and explore effective methods to prevent such citizens from going missing.

China has been facing a demographic crisis due to massive increase in aged people due to the three decade-old one child policy.