In 2004, the percentage of senior citizens (those age 65 or older) in rural areas stood at 15.6%, showing that the nation has become an aging society. Senior citizens are direct beneficiaries of welfare programs, as well as precious cultural resources of the society. 

The Gyeonggido Agricultural Research & Extension Service (Director General: Kim Young-ho) is developing 25 villages (eight in 2005 and 17 in 2006) in the province as exemplar longevity villages, with the aim to increase the number to 65 by 2011. These designated villages will receive special financial support for three years with the hope that the experience and wisdom of senior citizens can be handed down to following generations. 

The project will be focused on helping senior citizens with economic self-reliance and fostering environment conducive to their longevity by finding jobs suited to them (including farming not requiring intensive labor or participating in traditional culture activities), providing programs designed to help them maintain good health and socialize with other members of the community, in addition to informing them of healthy diets and nature-friendly ways of living. 

The project will also encourage senior citizens to be engaged in sound recreational activities, sessions of academic learning and social activities in an effort to help them regain the vitality of life. The villages thus developed will be equipped with safer and more pleasant living environment. 

It is expected that these villages will be reborn as places that can create new value of rural villages as the basis of healthier life for senior citizens in the aging society.