Healthy aging necessary for China to cope with aging society: report

China's rapidly aging society is bringing enormous challenges, said Liu Yuanli, president of Chinese Aging Well Association (CAWA) while interpreting a recent report on China’s aging population.

The report, jointly issued by Peking Union Medical College, CAWA, and Social Sciences Academic Press (China) on Jan. 26, noted that positive measures to promote healthy aging are necessary for China to cope with an aging society.

According to Liu, China’s population aged 60 and above increased from 126 million to 241 million between 2000 and 2017. Now this group accounts for 17.3 percent of the country’s total population.

The figure is estimated to exceed 250 million by 2020, nearly 20 percent of China’s total population.

The report said that China’s aging issue is developing faster than its economy. It will, on the one hand, raise society's economic burden because of the shrinking working group and surging costs of pension, medical care and social welfare, and on the other hand, catch China in the middle-income trap due to changes within the labor force.

To provide accessible and high-quality health care services for senior citizens and promote the health of the aging group is a prerequisite for a harmonious and stable society, the report said. It will also help to reduce the economic burden of both the government and society.

Additionally, measures to facilitate healthy aging will make seniors more energetic, thus lowering depreciation of human capital, which is conducive to the formation of a second round of demographic dividend.

The report pointed out that healthy aging would also accelerate the changes in the economic development pattern. It will force economic development patterns that depend on investment and export to one that is driven by domestic demand. Besides, nursing and health care services will create new jobs, and facilitate the growth of elderly care and insurance industries.