Objective  To examine the prevalence of disability and the situation of long-term care of the disabled among poor elderly in China.

  Methods  The information up to December 31, 2020 on 11.4955 million poor residents aged 60 years and over in 25 provincial-level administrative divisions across China were extracted from the National Health Poverty Alleviation Dynamic Management System. The Self-Care Ability Scale for the Elderly in the National Basic Public Health Service Specification – 3rd Edition was adopted to assess disability of the poor elderly. The prevalence of disability and long-term care of the disabled among the poor elderly were analyzed.

  Results  Of all poor elderly (50.17% males aged 72.72 years averagely and 49.83% females with a mean age of 73.66 years), 6.50% were assessed as having different degrees of disability; the proportion of disability was 5.97% in the males and 7.03% in the females. Among the poor elderly, the proportion of disability increased with the age; the proportion was 4.08%, 6.20%, 11.78%, 21.88%, and 30.57% for the poor elderly aged 60 – 69, 70 – 79, 80 – 89, 90 – 99, and ≥ 100 years, respectively. Among the poor disabled elderly, 18.70% were living alone and 70.90% were under home-based care.

  Conclusion   Among the poor elderly in China, the disability prevalence increased with age; for the disabled poor elderly, the proportion of living alone was high and the majority had home-based care, indicating that the burden of long-term care of the disabled poor elderly was heavy and home-based care of the elderly needs to be improved.