Studying the spatial characteristics of China’s ageing and its influencing factors is of great practical significance because China has the largest elderly population in the world. Using 2000 and 2010 census data, this study explores the degree, pace, and pattern of population ageing and its driving mechanism using exploratory spatial data analysis and the geographically weighed regression model. Between 2000 and 2010, population ageing increased rapidly countrywide; yet, spatial differences between eastern and western China narrowed. The degree of provincial population ageing and its spatiality were determined by natural population growth, migration, and local economic development. Life expectancy and mortality were the primary long-term factors, and GDP per capita was the prime contributor in the early days of economic development; the migration rate was the dominant influence after 2010. China’s overall spatial differentiation of population ageing shifted from a north–south to an east–west division.

Although the Chinese government has established a public health insurance system covering both rural and urban areas, the rural–urban migrants seem to have been neglected. To have a clear sense of the current status of migrants in the public health insurance system and to find ways to increase their enrollment to medical insurance, this paper attempts to construct a conceptual classification framework of China’s health insurance system. This was done by reviewing the development of China’s health insurance system and identifying barriers to entry for migrants. The finding suggests that migrants’ limited access to health insurance owes more to their reluctance than to system exclusions. The job and residential stability of migrants are critical factors to building the classification framework to account for supply and demand factors in the formulation of China’s health insurance policy.

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