SHANGHAI'S senior population rose by 5.3 percent in 2015 from a year earlier and accounted for over 30 percent of permanent residents for the first time, the city's civil affairs authorities said yesterday.

The number of people aged 60 or above reached 4.36 million by the end of last year, or 30.2 percent of permanent residents, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

The number of seniors aged 80 or above grew steadily, and the number of people aged between 60 and 80 has risen sharply in recent years, said Yin Zhigang, deputy director of the Shanghai Research Center on Aging.