Growing old in China in socioeconomic and epidemiological context: systematic review of social care policy for older people

Table 1 Population, age structure and old-age dependency ratio in 1970 and 2020, China, India, Japan, UK, and USA

	Population, million	0–19 years, million (%)	20–64 years, million (%)	≥65 years, million (%)	Old-age dependency ratio
China
1970 2020	827·6 1,439·3	427·6 (51·7) 337·2 (23·4)	369·0 (44·6) 929·8 (64·6)	31·0 (3·7) 172·3 (12·0)	0·08 0·19
2050	1,402·4	266·5 (19·0)	769·9 (54·9)	366·0 (26·1)	0·48
India
1970	555·2	285·7 (51·5)	251·2 (45·2)	18·3 (3·3)	0·07
2020	1,380·0	487·1 (35·3)	802·2 (58·1)	90·7 (6·6)	0·11
2050	1,639·2	413·1 (25·2)	1001·5 (61·1)	226·2 (13·8)	0·23
Japan
1970	104·9	34·6 (33·0)	63·1 (60·2)	7·2 (6·9)	0·11
2020	126·5	21·5 (17·0)	69·1 (54·6)	35·9 (28·4)	0·52
2050	105·8	16·5 (15·6)	49·4 (46·7)	39·9 (37·7)	0·81
UK
1970	55·6	17·3 (31·1)	31·1 (55·9)	7·2 (12·9)	0·23
2020	67·9	15·6 (23·0)	39·6 (58·3)	12·7 (18·7)	0·32
2050	74·1	15·4 (20·8)	39·9 (53·8)	18·7 (25·3)	0·47
USA
1970	209·5	78·3 (37·4)	110·1 (52·6)	21·1 (10·1)	0·19
2020	331·0	82·1 (24·8)	193·9 (58·6)	55·0 (16·6)	0·28
2050	379·4	84·6 (22·3)	210·2 (55·4)	85·0 (22·4)	0·40

Source: Data from United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019.
Footnote: Limited demographic data is available for China before 1970. Old age dependency ratio is the proportion of people aged ≥65 (generally economically inactive) relative to those aged 15–64 years old. Normal retirement age (NRA) varies between countries, blurring the boundary between economically active and inactive individuals. The NRA for both men and women is 66 in the UK and the USA, 65 in Japan, 58 in India. In China, the NRA is 60 for men and 55 for women [15].

ISSN: 1471-2458