Elderly people exercise at a community activity room for the aged in Yangzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, on December 15, 2023. Photo: VCG

 



How to "enlarge the economic pie" and provide a solid wealth reserve for all public policies addressing population aging and negative population growth is the fundamental solution to the population challenges facing China, a renowned Chinese demographer told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The issue of the elderly people is not just a concern of an aging society, but also a comprehensive issue that involves the entire population, economy, and social development system, and it is about how to fairly share the benefits of economic and social development, Yuan Xin, a professor from the School of Economics at Nankai University, told the Global Times. 

Yuan further explained that seeking new demographic opportunities to enable the healthy, coordinated and sustainable development of population, economy and society is critical. 

A study session held by the State Council on Monday emphasized the need for more proactive efforts to tap into the human resources of the elderly and to foster new growth drivers in response to population aging. 

The study session stressed that the new development opportunities that aging presents should be recognized. 

Yuan told the Global Times that "with the deepening of China's economic and social reform, although the aging society is intensifying, the Chinese society is actually getting rich as the population ages."

Refuting claims that China is facing a dilemma: growing old before growing rich, Yuan said that the accusation refers to the insufficient accumulation of wealth in the society, the incomplete social security system, and the lack of economic and social preparation for a rising in the number of senior citizens. However, this is not the reality. 

As the aging population continues to grow, the increasing wealth of the economy and society are advancing in sync, presenting a dynamic evolution of the country "getting richer as the population ages," Yuan said.