Shanghai Daily reports:
The population will see an annual increase of about eight million people in the next decade and may reach 1.36 billion in 2010 and 1.4 billion in 2020, said Li Bin, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
The number of people above the age of 65 is expected to reach 320 million by 2040, which will make up nearly 22 percent of the population. The elderly segment was only 8.1 percent of the population in 2007, Li said.
In addition to the pressures of a greyer population, the country will also battle a sex-imbalance that may seriously disrupt social stability, Li warned.
The People’s Daily Online sees the glass half full in Family planning postpones China’s 1.3 billion population day by 4 years. Also, see China’s Family Planning Policy Benefits Country, World from Xinhua.
