Sept. 6, 2024 -- China's elderly population — aged 60 and above, has taken over one fifth of the nation's total population in 2023, and the aging problem may intensify in the future, giving both challenges and opportunities to the economic and social development.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs recently released a report, saying that population of the elderly aged 60 and above reached about 297 million by the end of last year, accounting for 21.1 percent of the nation's total population. Among the elderly people, those aged 65 and above were 216.76 million, roughly 15.4 percent of the total population.

According to the report, there are about 43.34 million elderly people enjoying allowances or subsides from the government as of the end of last year, with the subsidies mainly used to cover their nursing services and caring services.

The report said that the nation spent 42.17 billion yuan ($5.94 billion) for social benefits and welfare programs for the elderly last year, and another 22.32 billion yuan for supporting their nursing services.

As defined by the United Nations, a country will enter an "aging society" when the elderly aged 60 and above take up over 10 percent, or those aged 65 and above account for over 7 percent of the total population. And a country will be defined as an "aged society" when those aged 60 and above is 20 percent or the elderly aged 65 and above is over 14 percent, of the total population.

A recent report by the Peking University estimates that China faces rapid growth of aging population, who entered "aged society" in 2022 and a "super-aged society" around 2033 after the elderly aged 65 and above take up over 20 percent of the total population at the time.