Thirty years from now, China’s elderly population will vastly outnumber its younger citizens. In a country where assisted-living homes are scarce, and dementia is not widely understood, asks Nathan VanderKlippe, will people pay the price before the government does?

30年后，中国老年人口将大大超过年轻人口数量。在老年养护中心稀缺以及老年痴呆症不被广泛了解的情况下，大众会早于政府付出代价吗？

Dementia in China presents one of Earth’s largest and costliest¹ public-health crises, a slow-moving calamity² of human suffering that also portends³ economic and political danger.

中国的老年痴呆问题是世界上规模最大成本最昂贵的公共健康危机之一，这种导致人类痛苦的疾病也预示着经济和政治危机。

As the fuel for China’s industrial engines – cheap labour, hungry consumers, a burgeoning⁴ cohort of middle-class workers – slowly dwindles⁵, so too does its ability to propel the global economy.

作为中国工业引擎的助推剂——廉价劳动力，饥渴的消费者，壮大的中产阶级工人——正缓慢削弱，所以中国推动全球经济发展的能力也在减弱。

Meanwhile, the cost to the nation of caring for the most vulnerable among the elderly will be staggering. In little more than a decade, some scholars predict, demographics will help drag China’s economic growth rate below that of the U.S.

同时，照顾老年人口中那一最弱群体（即痴呆患者）所需要的成本也将是惊人的。一些学者预计，在10多年后，人口问题将把中国的经济增长率拉低到美国之下。

The fast-growing ranks of the elderly are already creating difficult and growing social problems.

而不断增加的老年人口数量正不断的引发严重的社会问题。