What’s new: Over 20% of China’s population is now aged 60 years and older, official data showed.
At the end of 2023, 296.97 million Chinese people were aged 60 and over, up from 280 million the year before, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs last week.
That means the elderly account for 21.1% of the total population, up 1.3 percentage points year-on-year and exceeding 20% for the first time.
Among the elderly, more than 216 million were aged 65 and over as of December 2023. They accounted for 15.4% of the country’s total population, up from 14.9% in 2022, the ministry’s data showed.
The background: China passed the threshold of 10% of its population aged 60 and over in 2000, according to Peng Xizhe, professor of population and development policy at Fudan University, who noted the figure in a recent interview with the United Nations.
When the proportion reaches 20%, the country would be considered a moderately aging society by international standards, and severely aging when the number exceeds 30%, a spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics noted when explaining China’s population data in 2021.
China is expected to enter the severely aging society stage around 2035 with over 400 million elderly citizens, the National Health Commission previously estimated in 2022.
The aging of the country is expected to put pressure on economic growth, the health and elder care systems, and especially the pension system, which faces significant financial challenges.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
