On the morning of March 5, 2026 (Thursday), the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress held its opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People.  

The following are excerpts of content related to "elderly care" and "silver economy".

Job responsibilities for 2025:

·Establish a sound long-term mechanism for basic medical insurance participation, optimize measures for centralized procurement of medicine, launch an innovative drug catalog for commercial health insurance, and ensure that the long-term care insurance system covers 300 million people.

·The gradual delay of the statutory retirement age reform is being implemented steadily.

·The minimum monthly standard for basic pension for urban and rural residents will be increased by 20 yuan, and a personal pension system will be implemented nationwide, with a pilot program for subsidies for elderly care service consumption.

Target tasks during the 15th Five Year Plan period

According to the "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development", the State Council has formulated the "Outline (Draft) of the 15th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China" and submitted it to the General Assembly for review.

The draft outline mentions accelerating the construction of a healthy China and a sports powerhouse, with an average life expectancy of 80 years per person; Actively responding to the aging population, the proportion of nursing beds in elderly care institutions has increased to 73%.

Key tasks for 2026

·The minimum monthly standard for basic pension for urban and rural residents has been raised by another 20 yuan.

·Deeply implement the national strategy of actively responding to population aging, expand the supply of inclusive elderly care services, actively develop rural elderly care services, and implement the consumption subsidy project for elderly care services for moderately or above disabled people.

·Actively developing elderly human resources, formulating measures to promote high-quality development of the silver economy, and improving support policies for elderly products, pension finance, and living and elderly care.

·Implement rehabilitation nursing expansion and improvement project.

·Implement a long-term care insurance system.

·Provide care and assistance to vulnerable groups such as elderly people living alone and those with disabilities and dementia.

·Strengthen disability prevention, rehabilitation, and care services, and promote the coordinated utilization of elderly care and disability assistance resources.

Related Reading:

Collection! Summary of Key Points for Elderly Care in the Work Report of 31 Provinces (Regions, Cities) in 2026 (including full text)