Recently, the Peking Union Medical College, the China Senior Care Association, and the Social Science Literature Publishing House jointly published the Senior Health Blue Book. According to the statistics disclosed in the Blue Book, at the end of 2018, the total population in mainland China was 1,139.38 million, an increase of 5.3 million from the end of the previous year. The 2018 birth population was 15.23 million, down 2 million from the previous year. The birth rate was 10.94 per thousand, the lowest since 1949.
Meanwhile the aging population rate is rapidly accelerating. At the end of 2018, the population of those who were 60 years old and above was 294.49 million, accounting for 17.9 percent of the total population, an increase of 8.59 million over the same period in the previous year and an increase of 89.6 million over the end of 2008.
The Blue Book also predicted that, if the annual increase of 8 to10 million people per year for the population aged 60 and above is used, after 10 years, the population aged 60 and above will reach 340 million which means that two working adults will be needed to support each elderly person.
Source: Sohu, January 28, 2019
http://www.sohu.com/a/291895547_118392