China’s proactive ageing strategy: Demographic dynamics, policy innovations, and future pathways

China has the largest elderly population and is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Despite decades of economic growth, it is now facing a huge demographic challenge, i.e. rapid population ageing accompanied by negative population growth, which will have a long-term impact on the Chinese path to modernisation. Chinese modernisation is the modernisation of a large population, and of common prosperity for all. The well-being of the elderly population must be taken seriously. Since 2020, China has launched a proactive national strategy in response to population ageing to ensure that basic elderly care is accessible to the entire elderly population. This article analyses the characteristics of population ageing in China and the resultant challenges to social governance, social security, elderly services, liveable environments, and comprehensive development. It then introduces China’s distinctive and innovative responses to these problems, which manifest a joint governance model involving the active role of multiple stakeholders. Finally, it proposes some specific measures for addressing population ageing in the future to ensure both social stability and sustainable economic development.