Tough Challenges for China

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China is well anticipated to become the second nation immediately after Japan that will suffer a rapid aging of its population in the coming decades.

Compared with developed countries，China’s aging problems will rapidly arise amid its comparatively poorer social and economic conditions，posing severe challenges to the country’s lofty ambition of building an allround well-off society.

Statistics show that，from 2000 to 2007，the number of Chinese people aged 65or older will increase from the current less than 100 million to more than 200 million，up over 4 milion per year and the aged will make up 14 percent of the total population.

But from 2028 to 2036，the number of the same group will surge from 200 milion to over 300 milion，indicating that the aged Chinese’s total will increase by some 10 million each year and make up 20 percent of the nation’s total population in the end.

A senior Chinese official claimed that China is moving closer to the point that is as much as it can bear.

So，China，like some other countries，is set to handle many tough challenges regarding aging-related issues like finance，society and productivity.

Hu Angang，one of China’s top economists，said that finding ways to ensure the healthy development of China’s aging society is the biggest challenge China would have to face this century，since China has to bear the same social burdens as rich countries with its poor-country income level.Spending increase for the aged will surely reduce the country’s total deposits and thus reduce the general social investment，imposing a negative impact on the sustainable，coordinated，steady and fast development of the nation’s economy.

China’s current framework of the support of the aged will also confront historical challenges.There is no doubt that during the ongoing mechanism transitional process，the lack of a huge amount of pension，or only 44.9 percent of the urban employees and 85.4 percent of the retirees covered，remains a tough issue that more governmental efforts must focus on.

Because of the relatively high ratio of those aged from 15 to 59，or 67 percent of the total population，the burden on their shoulders to support the aged has begun to mount.