China

The oldest old persons, aged 80 and above, are most likely to need help, and most of the younger elderly persons, aged sixty-five to seventy-nine, are relatively healthy. There were about 7.7 million oldest old in China in 1990 and 11.5 million in 2000; their number will climb extremely [SPC1] rapidly, to about 27 million in 2020, sixty-four million in 2040, and one hundred million 2050, under the medium mortality assumption. The average annual increase of the oldest old between 2000 and 2050 will be 4.4 percent. The percent share of the oldest old among the elderly population in 2050 will be 2.3 times as high as that in 2000 (United Nations, 1999, vol. 2), as China's baby boomers, those born in the 1950s and 1960s, become oldest old after 2030.