Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian province, is among the top three senior-friendly cities, with environment, quality medical treatment and convenient transportation. [Photo/fznews.com.cn]

Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian province, is one of the top elderly-friendly cities, according to a list released at 2015 China Ageing Industrial Development Forum in Beijing.

The top 50 elderly-friendly cities were unveiled by Biaozhun Ranking, a Beijing-based research institute, and the China Health & Senior Care Industrial Alliance, with Xiamen, Sanya and Fuzhou ranking the top three.

The sample was based on the 2014 annual report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on urban competitiveness.

"We thought senior-friendly cities should first be livable cities, so we chose the top 150 Chinese cities from the CASS report as the basic sample," said a statement from Biaozhun Ranking.

The evaluation was also based on air quality, medical treatment, traffic and transportation.

Air quality is a significant factor since smog will affect seniors' health. In 2014, Fuzhou had 336 days with high air quality, accounting for 92 percent of the whole year.

The environment is important, and the medical treatment index was also included. Fuzhou has one hospital for every 73,000 citizens, while Beijing has only one hospital for every 178,400 citizens.

Traffic and transportation were also part of the evaluation, based on airport passenger throughput and train numbers. Convenient transportation can facilitate young people to visit their parents and allows seniors to travel.

Fuzhou airport's passenger throughput ranked 26th nationwide, and 382 trains run between Fuzhou and other cities across the country.

Fuzhou's age-friendliness has attracted insurance giants. Insurance companies including Taikang Life, Ping An and Union Life intend to build elderly centers in Fuzhou, which will provide canteens, banks, hospitals, libraries and entertainment facilities.

Among the 50 top cities, 39 are located in southern China and 11 are in the north. The top 10 are all coastal cities in Southern China.

Edited by Andrew Ancheta