BEIJING -- China will have 174 million senior citizens aged over 60 in 2010, or 12.78 percent of the entire population, according to a document on the aging population published on Thursday.

According to the document issued by the China National Committee on Aging with the approval of the State Council, 21.32 million of those senior citizens will be aged over 80.

China aging population, the largest in the world, is putting great pressure on China's economic and social development. The number of senior citizens will peak in 2030 when the national population hits 1.465 billion, the document said.

According to the fifth national population census, the average life expectancy of the Chinese population reached 71.4 years old in 2000, 2.85 years longer than that in 1990.