The government announced it will privatize State senior care facilities and asked local governments to launch the reform on at least one State-run organization under their administration in 2014.

In order to encourage the participation of social investors, local governments should gradually privatize public nursing homes for seniors and subsidize the transformed institutions, according to a notice released on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Tuesday.

Local governments are required to deliver their reform plan by Jan 20 to the ministry, it said.

Statistics from the ministry showed that there are more than 40,000 nursing homes for the elderly nationwide and more than 70 percent are run by the State.