Big data on urban aging in China: 149 cities are deeply aging, concentrated in these provinces.
The aging in China is accelerating, but the situation faced by different regions and cities is quite different.
According to the internationally accepted classification standards, when a country or region accounts for more than 7% of the population aged 65 and over, it means aging; Reaching 14%, it is a deep aging; If it exceeds 20%, it will enter a super-aging society.
According to the data of the seventh national census, the First Financial Reporter combed the population age composition of 336 cities at or above the prefecture level (including municipalities directly under the central government, cities with separate plans, provincial capitals, ordinary prefecture-level cities, prefectures and leagues outside Sansha City, hereinafter referred to as "cities") except Sansha City, and found that 149 cities in China have entered a deep aging stage, in the northeast, Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the central region.
149Urban deep aging
The data shows that in 2020, the proportion of 149 prefecture-level and listed people aged 65 and above has exceeded 14%, entering a deep aging.
In terms of regional distribution, among the 149 cities, 41 are from the eastern coastal areas, accounting for 27.5%; There are 36 in Northeast China, accounting for 24.2%; There are 72 in the central and western regions, accounting for 48.3%. Generally speaking, the cities with deep aging are concentrated in the northeast, the central region, the Yangtze River Delta, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration.
From the perspective of provinces, 149 cities are distributed in 22 provinces, of which 7 provinces have more than 10 cities with deep aging. Among them, there are 17 deeply aging cities in Sichuan, ranking first in number. This is mainly because there are a large number of prefectures and cities in Sichuan, and the population of prefectures and cities not only flows to the developed coastal areas, but also flows into Chengdu with the rapid economic development of the provincial capital in recent years.
According to the data, Chengdu is the only provincial capital city and sub-provincial city with a population exceeding 20 million, ranking fourth among all cities in China after Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing. In 2020, the resident population of the seventh national census in Chengdu reached 20,937,800, accounting for 25.02% of the total resident population in the province, which was 6.22 percentage points higher than that of the sixth national census in 2010 (including Jianyang, the same below); Compared with 2010, it increased by 5,818,900 people, an increase of 38.49%, with an average annual increase of 581,900 people, with an average annual growth rate of 3.31%, which was 0.18 percentage points higher than the average annual growth rate in the last decade.
According to the First Financial Reporter, the increase of 5,818,900 people in Chengdu ranks third among all cities in China, second only to the first-tier cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
According to the analysis of Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Statistics, in the past ten years, the population of the whole province has further gathered in Chengdu, the first city. From the city (state) data, the population tends to gather in the central city. The data shows that, divided into five economic zones, compared with the sixth national census in 2010, the proportion of permanent residents in Chengdu Plain Economic Zone and Panxi Economic Zone increased by 4.25 percentage points and 0.10 percentage points respectively, while the proportion of permanent residents in South Sichuan Economic Zone, Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone and Northwest Sichuan Ecological Demonstration Zone decreased by 1.44 percentage points, 2.74 percentage points and 0.17 percentage points respectively.
Similar situations exist in Hunan, Anhui and Hubei in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. For example, there are 12 cities in Hunan and Anhui in central China that are deeply aging, and there are also 9 cities in Hubei. One of the main reasons is the outflow of young and middle-aged people, and the working-age population accounts for a relatively low proportion, so the elderly population accounts for a high proportion.
Julia, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, analyzed the First Financial Report. The central region is closer to the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. In recent years, the construction of high-speed rail network has further shortened the time and space distance. In addition, with the rapid development of several strong provinces in central China in recent years, there are many employment opportunities, and many cities have moved to provincial capitals.
Therefore, the age structure of Sichuan and the capital cities of the central populous province is still relatively young. The proportion of people aged 65 and above in provincial capital cities is mostly below 14%, and the proportion of working-age population is still relatively high.
In contrast, the degree of aging in Northeast China is deeper. According to the data, there are 36 cities in the three northeastern provinces, all of which have entered the stage of deep aging.
Yi Baozhong, a professor at the Northeast Asia Research Institute of Jilin University, analyzed the First Financial Report. The enterprises in Northeast China are mainly state-owned enterprises, and many employees are in state-owned enterprises and administrative institutions, so family planning is strictly implemented. In addition, the industrialization in Northeast China is early, the urbanization rate and education level are relatively high, and the concept of raising children and preventing old age similar to that in rural areas is relatively indifferent. In addition, Northeast China is an immigrant society, which is less influenced by the traditional concept of fertility, and the overall population birth rate and fertility rate are relatively low.
According to Yi Baozhong’s analysis, due to the economic downturn in Northeast China in recent years, there are not many employment opportunities, so young people continue to flow out. Whether they are admitted to universities or not, many people go to the southeast coast for employment, which will also affect the age structure of the population.
Guangdong, Fujian and other places have a low degree of aging.
There are also many deeply aging cities in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east. Among them, 14 of the 16 cities in Shandong province have entered the deep aging, and the other two cities, Zaozhuang and Liaocheng, are also very close to the standard of deep aging. At present, Shandong’s population aged 65 and over has reached 15.36 million, making it the province with the largest total elderly population in China.
From the perspective of three age groups, Shandong has the characteristics of "high at both ends and low in the middle", that is, the working-age population accounts for a relatively low proportion, and the elderly population and children population account for a relatively high proportion, which is also related to the population outflow in Shandong in recent years.
Among the 13 cities in Jiangsu, the second largest economic province, 10 cities have been deeply aging. Among them, Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou and other central Jiangsu areas are the most aging. Niu Fengrui, a researcher at the Center for Urban Development and Environment Research of China Academy of Social Sciences, told the First Financial Reporter that the degree of aging in Yancheng and other places in central Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu is relatively high, which is related to the strict implementation of family planning and the high proportion of only children in the past. In addition, many young people in this area also flow to Shanghai, Suzhou and other places, so the degree of aging is increasing.
Ding Changfa, an associate professor in the Department of Economics of Xiamen University, analyzed the First Financial Report. Jiangsu and Zhejiang have always been economically developed areas in China, especially Jiangsu, which has earlier urbanization, higher living standards and great changes in the concept of childbearing.
Tang Hairu, deputy director of the Expert Committee of Hangzhou Planning Commission, analyzed CBN, and from the general law of economic development, the more developed the economy, the more obvious the declining birthrate. On the one hand, personal energy is limited, and I hope to put more energy into the improvement of living standards; On the other hand, in economically developed areas, the cost of children’s education is also rising.
Among the 11 cities in Zhejiang, 6 cities have been deeply aging, mainly in northern Zhejiang and along the coast of Hangzhou Bay. Tang Hairu said that in the past, family planning was strictly implemented in northern Zhejiang and along the coast of Hangzhou Bay, and the birth rate was relatively low, so the proportion of aging was relatively high. However, Wenzhou and Taizhou in the southeast of Zhejiang have relatively strong traditional concepts, relatively higher fertility rates and relatively low aging.
In other words, the traditional concept of fertility has a significant impact on the fertility rate and aging degree of a place. Compared with the developed areas in the Yangtze River Delta, the aging degree of Guangdong, Fujian and Wentai areas in the southeast of Zhejiang is relatively low. The data shows that among the 21 cities in Guangdong, only one city, Meizhou, has entered a deep aging. Among the nine cities in Fujian, only Nanping, a mountainous city in northern Fujian, has entered a period of deep aging. Influenced by traditional ideas, these places have a relatively high fertility rate.
In addition, including the Pearl River Delta and Fujian coastal areas, there are a large number of migrants flowing in, so the degree of aging is relatively low. For example, the population of Shenzhen aged 65 and over is 565,217, accounting for 3.22%, which is the lowest proportion in the country. In addition, the proportion of Dongguan is only 3.54%, which is the second lowest in the country; The proportion of cities such as Xiamen and Zhongshan is also very low.