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Graying of China

An update to my post about Japan Needing More Babies. I read an article in the WSJ (a summary of an LA Times article) a few weeks back about the graying of China and the implications it will have on its economy in the coming decades.

Here's an excerpt from the article:
While China's population is relatively young, by the middle of the century it is set to become one of the world's grayest societies. Today, less than 8% of China's population is 65 or older. By 2050, that proportion will rise to 24%, compared with Europe's 28% and 21% in the U.S. In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of elderly individuals will rise to less than 6% from 3% now.

Moreover, at 1.3 billion, China's population is impressive now but will be less so in the future. According to U.N. projections, most of the world's total population increase from 6.5 billion today to 9.2 billion in 2050 will come from sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim world. India's population is expected to overtake China's in 2025. China, whose so-called one-child policy has led to a steep decline in the country's birth rate in the past several decades, will contribute only 4% of the rise in the world's population up to 2050.

The economic burden of 300 million+ elderly people on China's economy will be tremendous. That is more than the entire population of the U.S.
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