At the end of 2005, the number of people aged 65 or older in China reached 100.55 million, 7.7 percent of China's population.

Xu Gang from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) says this means China's aging population is growing rapidly. Generally developed countries took between 30 and 40 years to shift from an 'adult' to 'aged' population, but in China this has happened in the space of about 10 years because of the One Child Policy.

Experts say the growth of the aging population will pose enormous challenges to Chinese social security.

By People's Daily Online