With life expectancy almost 81 years for women and 75 years for men, China has an opportunity to develop the "silver economy" by developing services and products specifically targeted at the needs and interests of seniors, said Justine Coulson, UNFPA China Representative.

Coulson said low fertility and aging present both challenges and opportunities for China.

"China's economic growth over the last 30 years was fueled in part by harnessing the first demographic dividend where a country with larger working-age population makes the right investments to ensure accelerated economic growth and social development," said Coulson.

Coulson recommends a life cycle approach to investing in human capital to build greater demographic resilience for countries experiencing low fertility and aging populations.