China's work force to decline to 57 per cent by 2030: experts

China will face severe demographic challenges in the next 25 years as its working-age population is predicted to shrink over six per cent to 56.9 per cent of the total population by 2030, according to a new study.
Last year the working population was stated to be 63.3 per cent last year. The ageing population will swell from 16.1 to 25.2 per cent which could seriously test China's social and economic development, experts said.
The number of those aged between 16 and 59 will decrease to 896 million in 2020 and 824 million in 2030, while those aged 60 and over will grow to 253 million in 2020 and 365 million in 2030, according to a new data provided by the Population and Development Studies Centre at the Renmin University of China, state-run Global Times reported today.

China ended the three decades old one-child policy this year and replaced it with two-child as the demographic crisis deepened with sharp rise in the population of old age population.
According to latest figures the number of people aged 60 or over in China has reached 212 million at the end of 2014, accounting for 15.5 per cent of the country's population, with the number of disabled elderly people approaching 40 million.
The United Nations has predicted that people over age 65 will account for 18 per cent of China's population by 2030, double the number in 2011 which will have a negative bearing on China's labour availability.

By 2050, China is expected to have nearly 500 million people over 60, exceeding the population of the US.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that in 2015, China's working age population was 911 million and there were 222 million senior citizens.
"China's current demographic structure is severely distorted, as the country now faces problems such as low fertility, an ageing society and gender imbalance. This may hinder economic development as well as social stability in the long run," said Mu Guangzong, a professor at Peking University's Institute of Population Research said.
Yi Fuxian, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, recently warned that China has entered a "low fertility trap" and that its ageing population will impede economic development.

Although other scholars are reluctant to jump to similar conclusions, many worry that the demographic problem may worsen if the nation does not take more decisive action.