China's 'demographic dividend' to decline in 2015
- Source: Global Times
- [18:12 September 09 2010]
- Comments
The year 2015 will mark the beginning of the end of China's "demographic dividend", as the aging of the population continues to increase until 2039 - when there will be less than two Chinese taxpayers looking after one pensioner.
This was the conclusion of experts attending a seminar at the "21st Century Forum" - focused on "converting the aging crisis to an aging bonus through a pension insurance system" - which was organized by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), on Wednesday.
This dividend refers to an increase in the rate of economic growth due to an increase of people of working age.
Zhu Fuling, director of the social security department of the Central University of Finance & Economics, said that a sample survey in 2005 that covered 1 percent of the Chinese population shows that China had 100.45 million people aged 65 or above, which was 7.7 percent of the total population then.
According to the UN aging population standard, a country can be referred to as an "aging society" when the number of people aged 60 and older constitutes more than 10 percent of its citizens, or when those aged 65 or above make up more than 7 percent of the population.
During Wednesday's forum, Yang Yansui, director of the career and social security research center of the Public Management College at Tsinghua University, said that in 2015 China's population will continue to age fast and the working population will begin to decline.
She also said that the country should aim to maximize the productivity of the elderly - for example by raising the retirement age - with the aim of turning the aging crisis into an opportunity.
