Being alone when ill top worry for rural seniors  

生病无人料理”成广东农村空巢老人首要问题

广州社情民意研究中心8日公布的一份民意调查显示，目前广东农村空巢老人在养老方面存在着诸多问题。“生病没人照顾”是“空巢老人”的最大顾虑。而“老人不愿进城”、“子女没时间照顾”是老人留守村中的主要原因。

Guangzhou (CNS) -- The biggest concern for rural seniors living in "empty nests" is that nobody will be around to take care of them if they are struck by illness, according to a survey released Thursday by the Guangzhou Public Opinion Research Center (GPORC).

About 52 percent of the interviewed villagers worried they would be left alone when sick, yet 44 percent preferred the countryside to living with their children in cities.

High living expenses are mainly what keep seniors from urban areas, the survey said.

The survey covered half of the townships in Guangdong Province, completing telephone interviews with 1,522 villagers after stratified random sampling.

About 40 million rural seniors live apart from their children or have no children, accounting for 37 percent of the total seniors living in rural areas, statistics from China's Ministry of Civil Affairs show.