49.7 per cent of elderly in China live alone in rural areas

Yan Qingchun, deputy director of the National Committee on Ageing, said that as more and more farmers go to cities and become migrant workers, the proportion of these "empty-nest" families in rural areas has reached 38.3 per cent, and is growing more rapidly than that of urban areas.

Yan's address to the symposium proposed that the seniors attend old folks' homes in places other than their hometown, saying that this new type care can alleviate the loneliness of "empty-nest" situations, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

During its Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), China is working to strengthen institutions for the aged in a bid to reach a target of having 30 beds in such facilities for every 1,000 senior citizens.