China Sets 2026-2028 Targets for Visiting and Caring for Vulnerable Elderly

The phased deadlines matter more than the headline: they turn a social-welfare pledge into an administrative timetable that local governments will be measured against, with county-level needs lists as the key deliverable. The near-term pressure falls on grassroots civil-affairs staff and care workers, where workforce capacity is explicitly flagged as a gap to close. Whether the 2028 "long-term mechanism" amounts to durable funding or just a recurring reporting exercise is the open question worth watching.