A deputy to the National People's Congress, Chen Chuanshu, said meeting the challenges of dealing with China's aging population will be most difficult in rural areas, as over half of the aged live outside urban centers.

Chen, the vice director of the China National Committee on Aging, suggested that the urbanization of rural population should be promoted by developing local infrastructure.    

Ideally 90 percent of the elderly should be taken care of at home, with 7 percent of the elderly looked after by local communities and 3 percent accommodated in institutions, Chen said.