Census to help China prepare for challenges

Next decade to see rapid aging population growth

According to the census, the population aged above 60 has reached 264 million, while that of people aged 65 or above has risen significantly to more than 190 million.

Also, from 2020, people born in the 1960s started turning 60. The number of people born in the 1960s is much higher than those born in any other decade including the 1950s and 1970s.

This means China has entered a decade of rapid aging population growth, which will be fiercer and have a bigger impact on socioeconomic development than previously imagined.

Li Jia, senior researcher and deputy director of the Aging Society Research Center at the Pangoal Institution