play

What impact will 500 million people over the age of 60 have on China.

0:00 / 6:04

In China, where economic growth has slowed significantly since the giddy heights of just a few years ago, political leaders are pondering what to do about the country's rapidly aging population. The number of people over the age of 60 is expected to rise from its current level of just under two hundred million, to almost five hundred million by the middle of the century. And at the same time the number of babies being born has fallen dramatically because of the one child policy, which aims to restrict most families to no more than one child. As our China Correspondent Damian Grammaticas reports from Henan province in Central China, it's a demographic shift that will saddle China with huge costs, and further dampen its prospects for future economic growth.
8 months ago