An elder woman interacts with A-Tie at a nursing home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, May 17, 2016. [Photo/IC]

China had 222 million people over 60 as of the end of last year, accounting for 16.1 percent of the country's population, says Civil Affairs Vice-Minister Gao Xiaobing.

Meanwhile, China hopes to sell more than 30 billion yuan ($4.60 billion) worth of robots by 2020 amid surging demand in the healthcare, scientific research and domestic service sectors, according to a guideline posted on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.