China set up its first hotline especially to tackle the psychological problems of the elderly on Saturday in Beijing.

The hotline, "love passing", would be open 24/7, said founder Xu Kun.

There are 128 volunteers, some of them elderly, others new graduates.

Xu said the volunteers would also visit places where many older people congregated and arrange social events for them.

Xu, who is a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business, said that she had helped nearly 100 elderly people who had thought of suicide.

According to Li Baoku, president of the China Aging Development Foundation, each year more than 100,000 people aged above 55 killed themselves. "The suicide rate of elderly people in rural areas is four or five times the world average," he said.

Xu said loneliness was the major cause of these suicides. "They become pessimistic and depressed after being left alone," she said.

"Western countries took 80 to 100 years to become aging societies," he said. But in China, he noted, the process had taken just two decades. As a result, "elderly people could encounter more problems."

About 11 percent of China's population is aged above 60. The elderly population in China accounts for one fifth of the world's total, according to Li.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2009)