Taiwan’s most elderly-friendly city or county is Chiayi City, followed by Taipei and Hualien City, according to a survey and comprehensive evaluation by the Taiwan Active Aging Association.
The association yesterday said that it conducted a telephone survey of elderly people (aged 65 years and above) through random sampling to understand their satisfaction on local governments’ efforts to create an age-friendly environment, collecting 1,544 effective responses in 22 cities and counties across the nation.
It conducted a comprehensive evaluation on several aspects related to establishing age-friendly environments including access-free facilities, transportation, housing, social participation, and community and health services, it said.
However, as Hsinchu County and Tainan did not provide the necessary statistics, and the three outlying islands’ statistics were incomplete, they were not included in the comprehensive evaluation, it said.
Association executive director Chang Mei-hui (張美慧) said the comprehensive evaluation showed that the six special municipalities with their relative abundance of resources were not the only places capable of creating friendly environments for elderly people.
Chiayi City had an excellent score in medicine, public health and social welfare, and its low house prices causes less financial burden for elderly residents, she said, adding that Taipei received good scores in all aspects, but especially stood out in the aspect of public transportation.
Association chairman and former minister of health and welfare Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said many elderly people expressed a desire to be able to contribute to society, feel needed by others, as well as to learn from and interact with other people, but the survey found that about 40 percent do not use the Internet and 31 percent stay at home almost every day.
The survey suggested an M-shaped society in three aspects — Internet use, community participation and public perception of elderly people — and local governments should consider age-friendly policies that are not limited to building more facilities such as care centers, he said.
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