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China faces acute problem of ageing society

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BEIJING, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - Chinese population authorities announced that 21.4% of the world's elderly people live in China and their number is set to rise 3.2% annually, national media said on Tuesday.

According to the data of the China National Committee on Aging (CNCA), the number of people above 60 has increased by 18.3%, to 149 million in 2006. Elderly people make up 11.3% of the country's population and the figure will rise to 248 million in 2020, and to 437 billion, or a quarter of the Chinese population, in 2050.

Experts say that the country will face a huge problem in raising money for pensions - over 46 million elderly people received some $62 billion in financial support in 2006. Things will get worse between 2030 and 2050, when the ratio of working people per pensioner will drop from six to two.

"With fewer people of working age and more pressure in supporting the elderly, the economy will suffer if productivity sees no major progress," the Xinhua news agency quoted Yan Qingchun, deputy director of the CNCA, as saying.

Zhang Kaidi, director of the China Research Center on Aging, said China was "not adequately prepared" for the rapid onset of an ageing society.

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