29.10.2026 12:42
According to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, in 2025 the population aged 65 and over rose to 223.65 million, surpassing for the first time the child population under 14 of 212.76 million. Analysts note that with the aging population, the share of the working-age population will shrink, marking a long-term shift.
In China, for the first time in the country's history, the elderly population aged 65 and over, outside the working-age population, has surpassed the child population aged 14 and under.
ELDERLY POPULATION SURPASSES CHILD POPULATION
According to data published by China's National Bureau of Statistics, in 2025 the population aged 65 and over reached 223.65 million, while the child population aged 14 and under fell to 212.76 million.
As the country's population ages, the ratio of elderly people whom the working population must support has surpassed the child population for the first time. While the ratio of dependent children to the working population fell from 23 percent in 2024 to 22 percent in 2025, the ratio of dependent elderly people rose from 22.8 percent in 2024 to 23.1 percent in 2025.
"CHINA'S POPULATION WILL AGE INCREASINGLY"
According to analysts, China appears to have entered a long-term demographic shift in which its population will age increasingly and the share of the working-age population will gradually shrink.
In China, where population growth has slowed since 2016, the country's population declined for the first time in 2022. The birth rate in 2025 fell to 5.63 per thousand, the lowest level since national records began in 1949.
In the distribution of the population by age group, those aged 16 to 59, defined as "working age," make up 60.6 percent of the population with 851.36 million, while those aged 65 and over make up 15.9 percent with 223.65 million.
ABANDONMENT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY DID NOT CHANGE CONDITIONS
The Chinese government abandoned the "one-child" policy implemented from the 1980s onward, first raising the limit on having children to 2 in 2016, and then accepting a legal amendment in 2021 that allowed families to have 3 children.
Despite policies aimed at encouraging families to have children, new generations are hesitant about having children due to slowing economic growth and rising costs of living and raising children.
It is predicted that population decline, along with aging, will lead to a decrease in China's future labor force potential, and its effects on the economy will be felt.