Aging China: 185 mln seniors and counting

Beijing (CNS) – The number of China's senior citizens at 60 and above hit 185 million at the end of 2011, and they now account for 13.7 percent of the total population, 0.47 percent up over the 2010 figure.

The new statistic on China's aging population was released on Wednesday by Wu Yushao, vice director of the China Committee on Aging, at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wu said the shifting balance towards an aging population is highlighting increasingly more severe consequences: by the end of 2013, the number of senior Chinese in their sixties and above will reach 200 million; and by 2015 they will be 16 percent of the total population, or 221 million.

Wu said the committee will give full play to the supervision function within its suite of community services, which provides elderly care and offers assistance to legislators with respect to amending the Protection Law for the Rights of the Elderly.