China officially entered an aging society in the early 21st century, and the concentrated distribution of aging risk first appeared in the eastern region in 2010. Based on the panel data of China’s population and economic and social development from 2010 to 2020, this paper uses PSR model to construct assessment indicators from three dimensions of pressure, state and response. Entropy weight TOPSIS and systematic clustering methods are used to analyze the risk level, regional differences and dynamic evolution trend of China’s population aging. The results show that: 1) The proportion of the elderly population, the natural growth rate of population and the consumer price index are the important indicators of the risk coefficient of population aging in China. The risk of population aging in China shows obvious U-shaped distribution and spatial imbalance. 2) Based on systematic cluster analysis, 31 provinces ( municipalities, autonomous regions ) in China can be divided into five risk gradients. Guangdong Province is the “ depression” of aging risk in China, which is in the “ golden period” of the layout of aging industry, while Jilin Province is the “highland” of aging risk, which is facing the severe challenge of aging risk. 3) The risk level of population aging in China shows a spiral trend of decreasing in the middle period and increasing in the later period, showing the imbalance of regional echelon distribution. The risk of population aging in Northeast China is deepening, and the absolute difference is decreasing gradually. The risk of population aging in the eastern, central and western regions shows a fluctuating trend of decreasing first and then increasing, accompanied by polarization effect. Under the background of the continuous deepening of population aging, it is of great significance to clarify the reality of the development of population aging and clarify the specific rules of its distribution echelon structure and evolution to master the key points of aging work and form a good situation of “coping with aging risk echelon”.
