Greying China growing  

中国60岁及以上老年人口近1.85亿 低龄老人逾半

中国老龄办10日发布的《2011年度中国老龄事业发展统计公报》显示，截至2011年末，中国60岁及以上老年人口已达1.8499亿，占总人口的比重达13.7%。

The population of Chinese seniors aged sixty and above hit 184.99 million at the end of 2011 and now account for 13.7 percent of the country's total population, according to a report issued by China's Office for Senior Citizens on Tuesday.

The old age security and healthcare systems play a key role in keeping an aging population comfortable. As of the end of 2011, 284 million Chinese workers in urban areas were part of the basic pension plan, up 10.4 percent over 2010.

The population of the country's seniors living alone continues to grow as well. About 54 percent of seniors in cities live in households without their children, and 45.6 percent of seniors in rural areas live alone.