| Abstract: | By 2040, the proportion of the elderly in China's population will be 20.9%. 3 problems that must be discussed are 1) the cost of supporting this large number of elderly people, 2) the relative decrease in the working population, and 3) the increased problems of older people. In 2040, the proportion of the working population will be 63.5% of the population, the aged will form 20.8% of the population, and children will form 15.7%. In 1982, the proportions were 61.6% working ages, 4.9% elderly, and 33.6% children. Expenditures on dependent aged people in the future will balance that on children now because elderly people do not remain consumers as long as children do and children's educations, cost more than health care for the elderly does. The standstill or decrease in the absolute number of people will lead to a stop in the growth of the absolute number of the working population. Production will then depend on the quality rather than the quantity of population. A low standard of living and backward social welfare facilities are problems in caring for the aged in China today. What is now being practiced in China in caring for the aged is a combined system of care by the individual, the collective, and the state. The overwhelming majority of the rural elderly are supported by their families, while the majority of the urban elderly are supported by the collective. |
