China has officially entered a “moderately aged” society, with new data showing that twenty provinces and municipalities met the demographic threshold last year. According to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, a society is considered moderately aged when people aged 60 and above account for more than 20 percent of the population, or when those aged 65 and above exceed 14 percent. By the end of 2024, the mainland’s population aged 60 and older had risen to 310 million—22 percent of the national total.
Caijing magazine, citing figures from the newly published China Statistical Yearbook 2025, identified nineteen provincial-level regions that have crossed into the moderately aged category, including Liaoning, Shanghai, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Chongqing, Jiangsu, and Tianjin. Local statistical data suggest that Gansu has also met the standard, bringing the total to twenty.
The Northeast continues to face the most acute demographic pressure. Liaoning alone has more than nine million residents aged 65 and above, representing 21.9 percent of its population—placing it among China’s severely aged regions. Jilin and Heilongjiang rank third and fourth nationwide in aging severity.
By contrast, Guangdong, China’s most populous province, remains relatively young. Residents aged 65 and above account for just 10.18 percent of its population, placing it third from the bottom among all provincial-level regions.
Yang Chenggang, vice president of the China Population Association, attributed the Northeast’s rapid aging largely to the outflow of younger workers seeking better economic opportunities in other parts of the country.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), November 8, 2025
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202511080177.aspx