Aim for China's second demographic dividend

China should make greater efforts to transform its huge population from a quantitative to a qualitative advantage to cement a foundation for lasting economic prosperity.

The "demographic dividend" has long been thought an important source of China's remarkable economic performance. According to World Bank estimates, China's advantageous population age structure brought about by such a dividend has contributed more than 30 percent to the country's economic growth over the past decades.

However, with the transformation of its population structure, the country's traditional economic development model has come under severe pressure. As its economic growth experiences profound changes, catalyzing the second "demographic dividend" and creating a sustainable development formula is a pressing task for the world's most populous nation.