On October 28th, the investigation report released by Jiangsu Province revealed that all 13 cities in Jiangsu have entered a moderately aged society, with Nantong, Taizhou, Yancheng, and Yangzhou already in a severely aged society. This news became a top trending topic on Baidu on October 29th.
The Communist Party of Jiangsu Province issued the “Jiangsu Province Aging Development Report (2024)” on October 28th, marking the 16th consecutive year of releasing such a report in Jiangsu.
The report indicates that by the end of 2023, Jiangsu had a residential population of 85.26 million, with 20.89 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 24.5% of the residential population, 3.4 percentage points higher than the national average of 21.1%. The population aged 65 and above stood at 15.73 million, representing 18.4%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the national average of 15.4%.
According to international standards, a society is considered aged when the population aged 65 and above exceeds 7%, moderately aged when it surpasses 14%, and severely aged when it reaches over 21%.
The report shows that based on the resident population, the aging level in Central and Northern Jiangsu is higher than in Southern Jiangsu. By the end of 2023, among the 13 districts in Jiangsu, the proportion of the population aged 65 and above had for the first time all exceeded 14%, entering a moderately aged or higher aging society.
Four districts with a population aged 65 and above exceeding 21% are Nantong at 25.22%, Taizhou at 24.38%, Yancheng at 22.86%, and Yangzhou at 22.47%, indicating that these four cities have entered a severely aged society.
Among the 13 districts in Jiangsu, Suzhou has the lowest aging degree. With a residential population of 12.958 million, Suzhou has absorbed a large number of young migrants despite having a registered population of only 7.867 million.
As the aging population continues to grow, the regional imbalance in aging across Jiangsu Province is worsening. The elderly dependency ratio in the province has reached 27.14%, with data showing that the growth in the elderly population is mainly among the younger elderly.
The data highlights the increasing trend of aging population and declining birth rates in Jiangsu Province. From 2016 to 2019, the number of births in the residential population of Jiangsu began to show a slight decrease, with a significant decline starting from 2020, dropping below 600,000 to 564,000 in 2020, below 500,000 to 479,800 in 2021, further to 445,000 in 2022, and down to 409,000 in 2023, resulting in three consecutive years of negative natural population growth rates.
Regarding the current population situation in Jiangsu Province, Upview News stated on October 28th that the increased elderly dependency ratio reflects a deepening aging society. It implies that the working-age population will need to support more elderly individuals, putting significant pressure on social security, medical care, and elderly services.