Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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In Fast-Aging China, Elder Care Costs Loom Large

Shen Hua

   WASHINGTON - China's latest census shows that the country's population
   is quickly growing older, creating a policy challenge familiar to many
   governments: how to cover elder care costs while ensuring continued
   prosperity for everyone else.

   Over the past decade, China's overall population grew at the slowest
   pace since the first modern census in 1953, [1]according to the
   National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This came even though the
   [2]one-child policy was abolished in 2016.

   In about 25 years, one-third of China's population will be retirees,
   and their living and health care expenses will eat up a quarter of the
   country's GDP, according to the NBS census report, which was released
   last week. But by 2035, the government-run basic pension system for
   corporate employees will likely be depleted, according to a 2019
   Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report.

   China's "increasing elderly population will reduce the supply of labor
   force and increase the burden on families' elder care and the pressure
   on the supply of basic public services," said Ning Jizhe, head of the
   NBS, at a May 11 press conference in Beijing [3]marking the release of
   the census.

   "The aging of the population has further deepened, and in the coming
   period, (we will) continue to face pressure for the long-term balanced
   development of the population," Ning said.

   "I think it's a serious problem," Mrs. Su, a retired teacher living in
   Beijing, told VOA Mandarin. "But to be honest, I couldn't care less
   about our country's family planning policies and what the government is
   going to do from now on. I only care about my retirement benefits and
   how I can enjoy my remaining years." She asked to be identified by only
   one name to avoid attracting the attention of authorities.

   Africa bucks trend

   China is not alone in facing this demographic tension.

   In many developing and developed nations, younger working people pay
   part of their income into pension plans, offsetting the costs of an
   aging population. As [4]birthrates fall in the Americas, Europe and
   elsewhere in Asia, this construct is challenging governments. Only in
   Africa do demographers see population growth, [5]at least over the next
   two decades.

   China's current economy was built on lives spent in poorly paid
   manufacturing jobs which offered little to workers for their
   retirement. Male workers become [6]eligible to retire at 60; female
   office workers, 55; and female blue-collar workers, 50. Officials set
   the ages in the 1950s, when China's life expectancy was less than 45.
   As of 2019, life expectancy was 77.3 years nationwide, with city