Senior citizens account for more than 20 percent of the population of Shanghai, an economic powerhouse in eastern China, a city official said Thursday.

Gao Julan, deputy head of the municipal civil affairs bureau, said that as of the end of 2008, there were more than 3 million registered citizens aged above 60 in Shanghai, or 21.6 percent of the population.

The proportion was 4.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Shanghai now has the largest share of the aged in the population among Chinese cities, or twice the national average, according to Gao.

Of the 3 million, 17.8 percent were in their 80s and 90s. The proportion was 6.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Of the 534,400 people aged above 80, about 20 percent needed daily care services, according to Gao.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2009)