About 1,370 Chinese elderly go missing every day, a new report said, amid growing concerns the country’s ageing population is being neglected by children who leave their backwater hometowns for the booming cities.

Elderly people in China often rely on their children for emotional and financial support, and caring for parents is considered the most sacred of Chinese virtues.

But decades of economic growth have led many of today’s younger generations to focus more on their careers than their parents’ welfare.

About 500,000 elderly people go missing in China every year, or 1,370 a day, the survey released by the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute said.

Most of the cases occur in rural communities and small cities, areas where young people often leave to find work in China’s fast-developing larger cities, said the report, which was sent to The Telegraph by the authors.

More than 80 per cent of missing elderly are reportedly found in the big cities, but only 50 per cent in the rural regions.

Many of the missing have mental illnesses, with 72 per cent suffering from memory impairment and a quarter diagnosed with dementia.

Four decades of the draconian one child policy has resulted in a dwindling workforce and a rapidly ageing population.