China ill prepared for aging population: report

China's 1.3 billon-strong population is facing the harsh reality of growing older before it gets richer, according to a new research report. (Photo: ceweekly.cn)

(ECNS) - China's 1.3 billon-strong population is facing the harsh reality of growing older before it gets richer, and whether or not the country is ready to meet the challenge is anything but optimistic, according to a new research report.

China's old-age support ratio (the ratio of aged population to working-age population) is widening, but the market of goods and services for China's rapidly aging population, known as the "silver-haired economy," is not showing signs of taking shape.

Many people will likely fall into poverty as they grow older, due to limited purchasing power and an insufficient social security net, says the report jointly conducted by the Research Center of Employment and Social Security at Tsinghua University and China Economic Weekly.

Despite improvements to the healthcare and pension systems, China still lags behind, and in the future there will be fewer taxpayers to support aged citizens.

Yang Yansui, director of the research center, said the report shows that China is ill-prepared economically for an aging population.

China's old-age support ratio reached 5:1 before 2010, meaning that every five taxpayers supported one senior citizen, but by 2020 the ratio is expected to reach 2.5:1, possibly making China to be a "super-aging society," Yang said.

He added that he hopes the country will draft a "silver-haired" economic strategy in its Thirteenth Five Year Plan (2016-2020) to lay a foundation for the aging society.

The research adopted three indices to reflect China's aging situation and social security net. The only passing score in the evaluation system was the "healthcare development index," which rose from 62.7 in 2013 to 63.5 in 2014.

Both the "pension development index" and the "aging society/grey-haired economy index" failed to make passing scores, with the latter dropping even further compared to last year.

The elderly support system and the industries targeting the elder population are lagging behind, while a certain number of low income people will have no access to care and could fall into poverty, warned Yang.

The best way to address the challenge is to improve support for the working-age population, encourage older populations (50-64 years old) to work and accumulate assets, and enhance the elderly population's consumption and purchasing power, added Yang.