The regional perspective of“getting old before getting rich”in China is framed by the comparison in population ageing between less developed and more developed areas. Basing on the connotation of this phenomenon，this paper constructs measurement indexes to describe the phenomenon quantitatively and analyzes the severity，trends and causes of this phenomenon in China. The results show that，while trends in population aging in different regions across China are broadly consistent with regional levels of economic development，spatial patterns of ageing have been changing. The inter-regional trend of“getting old before getting rich”has become increasingly severe. The reasons why the phenomenon becomes increasingly serious are the dramatic growth in migrant population，which is highly age selective and concentrated in the developed regions.