New program to help elderly register wills

A philanthropic program aiming to help elderly citizens register a will with free service provided was launched on Monday to mark Charity Day of China.

In total, 500,000 yuan (US$72,150) will be collected from social donations to support the program, and 400 seniors in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou will be the first group of beneficiaries, according to the Shanghai branch of the China Will Registration Center.

The program launched by the will registration center, Tencent Charity Foundation and the China Aging Development Foundation targets citizens above 60 who have only one apartment.

It offers free consultations and will-preservation services.

The will registration center, which was founded in 2013, has approximately 60 branches across the country, three of which are in Shanghai.

It has registered about 220,000 wills and provided service to around 310,000 people.

Over the past three years, the coronavirus pandemic and unexpected accidents have prompted people to consider registering wills, said Chen Kai, director of the will registration center's management committee.

An increasing number of people are aware of will registration and considering their after-life matters, Chen said.

The number of will registrants has continued to increase in recent years, growing 7.7 percent last year from a year earlier and 20.8 percent since 2019, according to the will registration center.

Shanghai's elderly population at or above 60 grew more than 87,000, or 1.6 percent, in 2021 from a year earlier, accounting for more than 36 percent of permanent residents.

The number of people aged 60 or above reached 5.42 million by the end of 2021, or 36.3 percent of permanent residents, compared with 36.1 percent from 2020.