China’s Aging Population Threatens Its Labor Force

A group of elderly people enjoys a day in Beijing, China on 7 April 2007. China will expand its social security fund to at least $200 billion within a decade in a bid to meet the surging demand for pensions from its aging population, as the country currently has 144 million people who have already passed their 60th birthday, accounting for half of Asia's entire population in that age group, while another 100 million will be added roughly every 15 years and after 2030 the population that will be in the labour force to support those who are either too young or too old to work will shrink to less than half. AFP/AFP via Getty Images

China’s seventh national population census showed that 44.3 percent of its cities have an aged population.

According to the World Health Organization, when the number of people over 65 years of age in a country or region exceeds 7 percent, it is called an “aging society.” When the number exceeds 14 percent, it becomes an “aged society,” and 20 percent is a “super-aged society.”