# Chinese families are facing a growing burden of caring for elderly relatives as the country’s population ages and birth rates fall. Official figures show China had about 310-million people aged 60 and older last year, compared with roughly 240-million children under 16. The shift is putting pressure on working-age adults, who increasingly have to support ageing parents while raising fewer children of their own. China has introduced measures to encourage births, including childcare subsidies and extended parental leave, but these have yet to reverse the long-term decline in births.
China’s families now support more elderly people than children