Spatial coupling relationship between older adults and elderly care resources in the Yangtze River Delta

The imbalance between supply and demand of elderly care resources in the Yangtze River Delta is increasing. By the older adult agglomeration, spatial cluster analysis, hotspot analysis, and coupling coordination model, this study explores the spatial coupling relationship between older adults and elderly care resources in the Yangtze River Delta in 2020 from the perspective of a supply-and-demand balance. The results demonstrate that: (1) population aging is mainly in the moderate aging stage, followed by the primary aging stage; (2) there are significant spatial differences in elderly care resources on the urban scale in the Yangtze River Delta; and (3) elderly care resources and the older adults in the Yangtze River Delta are mostly highly coupled. However, Nantong, with the highest degree of aging, has a serious mismatch in life service resources and ecological environment resources. The social security resources and medical resources of provincial capital cities with low aging are mismatched. Medical and health resources in underdeveloped areas are seriously mismatched. The social security resources are barely matched in Shanghai. A path for optimizing the spatial allocation of elderly care resources is proposed. This research offers a decision-making reference for coordinating elderly care resources distribution.