China

Download Print

Section I: Demographic indicators

1. Key population indicators, 20241

Indicators Value
Population age 60+ (thousands) 292,592
Population aged 60+ (% of total population) 20.5
Percentage of women out of the population aged 60+ 53.7
Percentage of women out of the population aged 80+ 61.1
Life expectancy at birth (years) 79.0
Median age (years) 37.4
Total fertility rate (2024) 1.2

2. Population by age group, selected years1

Thousands
Age 1950 1990 2020 2024 2030 2050
0-14 189,265 333,241 256,845 232,257 185,107 150,287
15-64 327,286 759,364 988,568 984,420 972,453 767,373
60+ 43,640 93,669 254,161 292,592 370,721 509,409
65+ 27,428 61,099 179,516 208,501 258,046 394,976
80+ 3,323 7,697 32,187 36,323 49,530 135,315
Total 543,979 1,153,704 1,424,930 1,425,179 1,415,606 1,312,636
Percentage
Age 1950 1990 2020 2024 2030 2050
0-14 34.8 28.9 18.0 16.3 13.1 11.4
15-64 60.2 65.8 69.4 69.1 68.7 58.5
60+ 8.0 8.1 17.8 20.5 26.2 38.8
65+ 5.0 5.3 12.6 14.6 18.2 30.1
80+ 0.6 0.7 2.3 2.5 3.5 10.3

3. Percentage of total population by age group and sex, selected years1

1990
2020
2030
2050

4. Percentage of male and female population by age, 20241

5. Proportion of the total population by broad age group, 1950-20501

6. Proportion of population aged 80 years or over as percentage of population aged 65 years or over, 1950-20501

7. Median age of the total population, 1950-20501

8. Life expectancy at birth, male and female, 1950-20501

9. Potential old-age support ratio (ages 20-64/age 65+), 1950-20501

10. Speed of ageing (Number of years required or expected for percentage of population aged 65 and over to rise from 7 per cent to 14 per cent)1,2

11. Life expectancy at birth (both sexes), and total fertility rate, 1990-20501

Section II: Employment and social protection

12. Labour force participation rate of people aged 65 years or over, percentage, latest available year3

icon both 21.1
icon male 27.6
icon female 15.1

13. Percentage of older persons covered by social protection systems including floors (SDG 1.3.1), 2020 or latest available year4

14. Legal coverage of contributory mandatory pensions, total, female, male (percentage of working-age population), 2020 or latest available year4

icon both 100
icon male 100
icon female 100

15. Informal employment rate of 65+ (percentage of informal employment out of total employment in that age group)3

icon both n.a.
icon male n.a.
icon female n.a.

Section III: Health

16. Life expectancy (LE) versus healthy life expectancy (HALE) at age 60, both sexes, most recent years5

17. Life expectancy (LE) versus healthy life expectancy (HALE) at age 60, male and female, most recent years5

18. Out-of-pocket health expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE), latest available years5

19. Suicide rate, per 100,000 population, by sex and age group, latest available year 20195

20. Dementia physician density, per 1,000 population, latest available year5

icon physician 2.2 persons

21. Total expenditure on social protection (excluding health), percentage, 2020 or latest available year4

icon both 7.2

Section IV: Living arrangements

22. Household living arrangements of people aged 65 years or over, latest available years6

23. Literacy rate of older persons age 65 years or over, percentage, latest available year 20187

icon both
(of 65+ total population) 85
icon male
(of 65+ male population) 92.8
icon female
(of 65+ female population) 78

24. Internet users, as a percentage of their age group, latest available years8

Source: ESCAP 2022. Ageing in Asia and the Pacific: key facts, available at: https://www.population-trends-asiapacific.org/data

Footnote

  1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects 2022, Online Edition.
  2. Kinsella, Kevin and Wan He (2009). “An Aging World: 2008”. International Population Reports, Issued June 2009: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Commerce. Available at https://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p95-09-1.pdf
  3. International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT Data. Available at https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/ (accessed on 3 March 2023).
  4. World Social Protection Data Dashboards. Available at https://www.social-protection.org (accessed on 3 March 2023).
  5. World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory data repository. Available at https://www.who.int/data/gho (accessed on 3 March 2023).
  6. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). Database on the Households and Living Arrangements of Older Persons 2022. Available at https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/data/living-arrangements-older-persons (accessed on 3 March 2023).
  7. World Bank, Databank. Available at https://databank.worldbank.org/ (accessed on 3 March 2023).
  8. ITU (2022). ITU, Digital Development Dashboard. Available at https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Dashboards/Pages/Digital-Development.aspx (accessed on 20 Februry 2023).