Introduction: Aging and Aged Dependency in China

Abstract

This introductory chapter reviews China’s demographic history so to provide a perspective for the empirical analyses of healthy aging and longevity in the chapters of the book that follow. In the chapter we also present trend data and population projection data from 1950 to 2050 for China’s elderly population. We show that the aged dependency burdens on the producing populations of China have increased from the past (1950) to the present (2000) and will become even heavier in the decades ahead (to 2050). China is projected to be older than the U.S. in 2050; moreover, its transition to becoming an elderly population has occurred more quickly than in the U.S. These dynamics have important implications for the society, and are discussed in this chapter.