Good for the elderly
In 2018, the entire population of 249.49 million persons over the age of 60 accounted for 17.9 percent of the overall population. It is significantly greater in the rural region than in the city, with a little larger percentage of the senior population. Western China is the region that is aging the quickest.
According to the 2020 census, which was issued this year, persons aged 60 and over accounted for 264 million people, or 18.7 percent of China’s population, with people aged 65 and older accounting for 13.5 percent.
It is expected that China’s senior population would continue to be the largest in the world for a long time. At now, the total number of persons aged 60 and over in China exceeds 250 million, placing it first in the world, and is expected to continue at this level throughout the twenty-first century, with an expected increase to 400 million in 2032 and 500 million in 2048, respectively.
PIP: China’s aged population is rising, and the elderly population is growing at a faster rate than the rest of the country. The aged population grew from 42 million in 1953 to 72 million in 1978, representing a 24% increase. The aged population in urban areas is expanding at a greater rate than the old population in rural areas.
In 2015, 9.5 percent of China’s population was 65 or older, according to official figures. According to the United Nations, this proportion will reach 27.5 by 2050.
By 2019, there were 254 million older adults aged 60 and over, and 176 million older people aged 65 and over, according to the United Nations Population Division. Around 402 million individuals (28 percent of the overall population) would be over the age of 60 by 2040, according to projections.
Population projections in China from 1990 to 2020, broken down by age group (in millions)
Characteristic | 0-14 years | 65 years + |
---|---|---|
2018 | 237.51 | 167.24 |
2017 | 235.22 | 159.61 |
2016 | 232.52 | 150.37 |
2015 | 228.24 | 145.24 |
According to the 2020 census figure, there are approximately 264 million people in China in the age group of 60 and over, accounting for approximately 18.70 percent of the population, an increase from 13.3 percent in the 2010 census. China has a population of approximately 264 million people in the age group of 60 and over, accounting for approximately 18.70 percent of the population.
Approximately 12% of the Chinese population is above the age of 65. The top 50 countries with the highest proportion of older adults are shown below.
Rank | 1 |
---|---|
Country | China |
# 65+ (in millions) | 166.37 |
% 65+ (of total population) | 11.9 |
Besides having the world’s biggest population, China also has one of the world’s fastest-aging populations, ranking third in terms of population growth rate. Several decades of declining birth rates, on the one hand, and dramatically increasing life expectancy, on the other, are mostly responsible for this.
The aged care strategy of the Chinese government is regulated by a 90/7/3 formula, which means that it aspires to have 90 percent of seniors remain at home, 7 percent continue in intermediate facilities, and 3 percent remain in nursing homes.
In China, families have historically provided care and served as a primary source of financial assistance for elderly people in the country. An article in the China Economic Journal from 2015 found that around 41 percent of Chinese people aged 60 and older live with an adult kid. Another 34 percent of the population has an adult kid who lives nearby.
Experts in demographics and labor have long suggested that the present required retirement ages in China – 60 for males, 55 for female office employees, and 50 for female blue-collar workers – should be reassessed, particularly given that they were initially established almost 70 years ago.
China has a median age of 38.4 years, according to the World Bank.
Japanese society is aging at the fastest rate in the world, with 47 individuals older than 65 per 100 working-age adults in 2015, compared to 19 in 1990, and this figure is expected to rise to 80 by 2060. Italy, Germany, and Korea are among the advanced G20 countries that will confront some of the most serious issues as a result of the aging population.
It is only children of single-parent families that are subjected to the 4-2-1 phenomenon, which means that when the kid enters working age, he or she may be responsible for caring for two parents and four grandparents in their retirement. Zini and Lin, a one-child marriage, find themselves in this circumstance, and their family is anxious.
Even though the Chinese government has made significant efforts to stimulate population growth and fend off a demographic catastrophe, the country’s population growth rate has plummeted to its lowest level in more than six decades, with deaths marginally outnumbering births in 2021.
In 2020, the overall population of China will have a male to female ratio of 105.302 men to every 100 females. In China, there are 738,247,340 men, or 738.25 million people, and 701,076,434 females, or 701.08 million people. The female population is 48.71 percent of the total population, while the male population constitutes 51.29 percent.
From 2014 to 2019, the number of nursing homes for elderly people in China increased significantly. From 2009 to 2019, the number of beds in nursing homes for the elderly increased significantly. From 2011 to 2019, the number of beds in nursing homes per 100 elderly people in China increased significantly.
The Chinese senior pension approach places a strong emphasis on home-based care, which is followed by community-based care and institutional care. The senior housing market has begun to grow fast, while it is unclear what share of the total will be comprised of senior housing.
As a result, these worries have gained traction in China, where more than a third of the population is predicted to be 60 years or older by 2050. In part as a result of China’s population aging process to date, the ratio of those aged 15-64 to those younger and older, which rose significantly, may be attributed to the country’s population aging process.
As China’s population continues to age, the country faces a crisis because its advent is impending and unavoidable, because its repercussions are enormous and long-lasting, and because its consequences will be difficult to predict.