The Chinese elderly population aged 65 years and above totaled 216 million in 2023, accounting for 15.4 percent of the total population, indicating that China has become an “aged society,” according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Based on the United Nations’ standard, a population is considered to be “aging” when more than 7 percent of people are 65 years old or above and “aged” when more than 14 percent of the people are aged 65 years or above.
At the same time, with a general rise in education levels, the average years of schooling in China went up from 7.04 years in 1990 to 10.75 years in 2021, according to the Human Capital in China 2023 report by the Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics.
The increase in years of schooling also means a delay in people entering the labor market and a rise in average age. On the national level, the average age of labor force rose from 32.2 years in 1990 to 39.4 years in 2021. Meanwhile, the average age of labor force in rural areas increased from 31.9 years in 1990 to 39.8 years in 2021, while the age in urban areas increased from 33.1 years in 1990 to 39.2 years in 2021.