China's aging population has given rise to some difficult problems especially in rural areas. The high suicide rate among senior citizens is one of them, which has revealed a slew of problems that the government and society as a whole should attend to.

Suicides committed by elderly people in rural areas account for a considerable percentage of all suicides in the countryside. In the 1980s, younger people accounted for 64 percent of all suicides committed in rural areas, while the suicide cases involving older people added up to only 15 percent. But while the percentage of suicides committed by younger people in rural areas declined to 38 in the last decade of 20th century, the corresponding rate for senior citizens jumped to 40 percent.

A drastic reversal in the suicide trend has been noticed in China in the 21st century, with 80 percent of all reported suicides in rural areas being committed by senior citizens as opposed to only 10 percent by younger people. This makes addressing the elderly people's problems a major task in the country's long-term battle to curb the rising suicide rate in the country.