China sees aging population increase

BEIJING - There were 222 million people aged 60 or above in China at the end of 2015, 16.1 percent of the total population, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Monday.

The figure marked an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared with the previous year, when China reported 212.4 million people aged 60 or above.

Of the 222 million, 143.86 million were 65 or above, or 10.5 percent of the total population, also up from the 10.1 percent in 2014, according to a ministry report.

Under international standards, a country or region is considered to be an "aging society" when the number of people aged 60 or above reaches 10 percent or more. China has had over 10 percent of people aged 60 since 1999.

The country has some 116,000 nursing homes holding about 6.727 million beds, with a year-on-year increase of 23.4 percent and 16.4 percent respectively. However, there are still only 30.3 beds for every 1,000 senior citizens.

The report also tallied up key figures in philanthropy, social welfare, disaster relief and other areas.

It said China registered 65.45 billion yuan's (9.8 billion U.S. dollars) worth of donations in 2015 and offered benefits to more than 18.38 million people in need.