THE CHALLENGE OF POPULATION AGING IN MAINLAND CHINA - A DEMOGRAPHIC ACCOUNTING

Since the early 1970s, mainland China's rapidly declining birth rate h as led to a proportionally large older population. This trend should c ontinue in to the early twenty-first century. This study focuses on de mographic concerns while attempting to analyze a cross-section of issu es in mainland China. The demographic changes of the elderly over time and space will be analyzed by using data from the 1953, 1964, 1982, a nd 1990 national population censuses, as well as the 1987 One-per-Hund red Population Sampling Survey data. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on mainland China's aging population, because a thorough un derstanding of the aging experience is essential for policymaking in a n aging society. Hopefully, taking these demographic trends into accou nt, mainland Chinese policymakers will revise social and economic prog rams for the elderly.