Domestic worker numbers to increase as nation ages

There are an estimated more than 20 million domestic workers in China, most of whom are women, according to a report published in June last year by the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Data from the National Population Census 2010, the most recent census, shows that there are about 652 million women on the Chinese mainland. This means about one in every 32 Chinese women, no matter how old they are, is a domestic worker.

And the country's aging population is pushing the ratio even higher. As of the end of 2014, people age 60 and older had reached 212 million, which is 15.5 percent of China's total population. And the number of seniors in the country is expected to continue to rise.