China plans to create 5,000 age-friendly communities around the country in the next five years, said an official from the National Health Commission on Saturday.

"Our work will focus on mobilizing all resources to gradually ensure a healthy aging and finally build a shared age-friendly society. During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), we will create 5,000 model age-friendly society and a batch of age-friendly cities," said Cai Fei, deputy director general of the Aging Health Department at National Health Commission, during a meeting in Jinan City, east China's Shandong Province.

People aged 60 or above totaled 254 million last year, accounting for 18 percent of the Chinese population. And the number is predicted to surpass 300 million in 2025 and reach 500 million in 2050.

"Both the huge number of aging population and the differences in aging problems between regions and even between city and rural areas in the same region demand integrated measures to meet what the aged really need," said Cai.

Creating age-friendly communities are not a new thing as the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a Global Age-Friendly Cities Project, which began in 2006 and was estimated to cover 158 million people from 533 cities in 37 countries.

According to the WHO, in an age-friendly community, policies, services and structures related to the physical and social environment are designed to support and enable older people to "age actively" – that is, to live in security, enjoy good health and continue to participate fully in society.

In the Chinese mainland, the first batch of pilot age-friendly communities were identified in September 2009 and included Jianhua District in Qiqihaer city, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Xuanwu District in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

In recent years, many other Chinese cities including Shanghai have launched age-friendly communities.

Recently, more attention has been given to the digital divide between younger and older generations in China. Stories of older people not being able to take the bus or trying to figure out how to show their health kit code have led to discussions about helping bridge the digital gap.