BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- As of September 2018, there were around 29,300 elderly care institutions in China, offering over 7.32 million beds for seniors, according to a nationwide civil affairs video conference that convened Thursday.

Over the past year, civil affairs authorities have vigorously promoted the development of the elderly care service industry and worked to enhance the service quality, said Huang Shuxian, minister of civil affairs.

By September 2018, 26.8 million, 3.54 million and 610,000 senior people in China had access to old age allowance, service subsidies and treatment subsidies respectively, according to Huang.

By the end of 2017, there were 241 million people aged 60 years and above in China, accounting for 17.3 percent of the country's population.