Senior residents receive rehabilitation treatment at an elderly care home in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Oct. 16, 2025. Korea Times photo by Ha Sang-yun
HONG KONG — Korea and China have had a turbulent relationship in recent years as they compete across a range of high-tech industries. But the two countries now appear to be bonding over a shared challenge: their rapidly aging societies.
The issue has featured on the agenda at meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Korean President Lee Jae Myung dating back to last year, with the leaders pledging to work together to deal with the economic changes being wrought by their nations’ low birthrates.
In November, following abilateral summitheld on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the two nations signed a cooperation agreement on the “silver economy,” with Xi highlighting the need for mutually beneficial outcomes.
Duringhis state visit to Chinain January, Lee also named the silver economy — existing and emerging sectors catering to the elderly population — as an area with “limitless collaboration opportunities,” despite the two countries’ competitive status in other areas of the global market.
Analysts broadly agreed with that assessment, pointing to the sector as a potential basis for future collaboration between the Asian economies — even amid geopolitical headwinds.
“First, it’s definitely one of the least sensitive areas of cooperation in China-Korea relations, and second, it’s a 100 percent growing market in both countries,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Both nations are aging at an unprecedented pace, with demographic changes unfolding faster than many policymakers had anticipated.
Korea has among the lowest birth rates in the world, and the country is already classified as a “super-aged society.” In 2025, more than 21 percent of its population — or 10.84 million people — was aged 65 or above.
China is not quite as far along the curve, but its decline in fertility has been even steeper. The country’s population shrank for the fourth consecutive year in 2025 as its number of births fell to the lowest level recorded since 1949. By 2035, China is expected to have more than 400 million people aged 60 or over.
Source: Korea Times News
