At a press conference on Thursday, Beijing officials highlighted the municipality's efforts to build a service network for the elderly, infants, and children under the age of 3 during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).
The city has established 152 localized service centers during that time that provide meal delivery, daily care, and hospital assistance for the elderly. These services benefit up to 2.07 million senior citizens, including 293,000 individuals over the age of 80, as reported by Yang Zhiwei, vice-director of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau.
Additionally, up to 33,000 infants and children under the age of 3 can now receive care in kindergartens, according to Wei Xubin, vice-director of the Beijing Education Commission. Among them, 26,000 children are eligible to join the public kindergartens with preferential discounts.
