It is predicted that one-third of the population of Beijing, the capital of China, will be 60 years of age or older in 2035.

According to Beijing Daily, by the end of 2025, the number of citizens aged 60 and over reached 5.29 million.

While the population aged 60 and over constitutes approximately 1 in 4 of the city's population, it is predicted that this rate will increase to 1 in 3 within 10 years.

The city government is planning measures to support the elderly population, including increasing the minimum pension.

The population in mainland China, which has been decreasing for 4 years starting from 2022, decreased to 1 billion 404 million 890 thousand in 2025.

In the distribution of the population by age groups, those aged 16 to 59, defined as "working age", constitute 60.6 percent of the population with 851.36 million, while those aged 60 and over constitute 23 percent of the population with 323.38 million.

Long-term demographic change

According to analysts, China appears to have entered a long-term demographic change in which its population will gradually age and the share of the working age population will gradually shrink.

In China, where population growth has slowed down since 2016, the country's population decreased for the first time in 2022. The birth rate dropped to 5.63 per thousand in 2025, the lowest level since 1949, when national records began to be kept.

The Chinese government abandoned the "one child" policy that had been implemented since the 1980s and first increased the limit of having children to 2 in 2016, and then adopted the law change that allowed families to have 3 children in 2021.

Despite policies to encourage families to have children, new generations are hesitant about having children due to the slowdown in economic growth and the increase in the costs of living and raising children.

It is predicted that population decline, along with aging, will lead to a decrease in China's workforce potential in the future, and the effects of this on the economy will be felt.