Abstract: The structure of population in China is entering the period of population aging. Aging can bring positive and negative impacts on export technological sophistication. From the macro perspective, the impact of population aging on export technological sophistication is in a trend of inverted U-type. It is estimated that during the years after 2020 China will enter the area of the inflection point which is under its influence. Aging has different impacts on industries with different cognitive abilities and different intensities; as for the industries with higher intensity of age-appreciating cognitive ability, ageing can promote the improvement of the export technological sophistication in these industries; while for the industries with higher intensity of age-depreciating cognitive ability, ageing is to the disadvantage of the improvement of export technological sophistication.

Key words: ageing of population; export technological sophistication; age-dependent cognitive ability