The number of elderly people in China is the largest in the world, accounting for 20% of the world's entire aging population and 50% of Asia's. China will have more than 400 million aged people by 2050.

By social standards set by the United Nations, a country/region where over 10% of its population is older than 60 or over 7% of its people are more than 65 years old are ranked among those aging countries/regions, said Li Bengong, deputy director of Office of China National Working Commission on Ageing during an interview. Mr. Li revealed that Chinese senior citizens of over 60 years old total 143 million now, accounting for 11% of Chinese entire population, and the percentage of over-60-year-old Chinese in the entire population will be 17.2% in 2020 and grow to 31% in 2050.

Besides this, Mr. Li talked about several characteristics of the Chinese aging population, for example, strong aging trend in Chinese society, increasing number of old Chinese living alone, etc.

By People's Daily Online