Debate Aging population【DOC精选】.docVIP

Debate: Aging population Updated: 2011-01-10 08:04 (China Daily) Two scholars suggest ways to deal with the rising number of elderly people in China. Mu Guangzong Senior citizens need better treatment The draft law on senior citizens, which requires people to visit their aged parents regularly to help fulfill their emotional and spiritual needs, indicates that taking care of senior citizens has become a serious problem in China. An aging population reflects a countrys advancement in science and technology, and higher standards of living. But it poses a challenge, too, for it creates new problems for the country. The number of people aged 60 years and above in China has risen to 160 million, or more than 12 percent of the total population. An aging society, according to international standards, is one that has more than 10 percent of its population above the age of 60. The number of aging people in China is likely to increase until it reaches to about 240 million, 17 percent of the population in 2020, when the country will have about 30 million people over the age of 80. Chinas economic and social structure and function are still in the reformatory stage and, hence, cannot keep pace with the rising number of elderly people. To begin with, China has the largest population of aged people in the world. Surprisingly, it took only 18 years for the Chinas population to transform from relatively young to aging. In contrast, it took several decades or even more than a century for such a transition to take place in developed countries. Chinas aging population also has different sets of problems in different areas. Chinas pension and welfare systems are not yet strong enough to deal with an aging population. When developed countries encountered an aging population, their per capita GDP was between $5,000 and $10,000, but Chinas was only $806 in 1999 when 10 percent of its people passed the age of 60. Chinas per capita GDP may be nearly $4,000 now, but it is still