Caregiving Challenges for Only Children

In China, the growing demographic of only children is facing significant caregiving responsibilities for elderly parents, as the population ages rapidly. As of 2020, there are approximately 208 million only children, with about 44 million elderly individuals requiring daily assistance as of late 2022. The obligation to care for aging parents is becoming a pressing social issue, prompting cities like Yangzhou to implement new policies, including extra paid leave for employees who must tend to hospitalized or disabled parents. These changes, effective from January 2025, are designed to alleviate some of the burden faced by the younger generation, emphasizing the need for societal support as family structures shift.