Chinese policymakers discuss proposal to delay retirement age Reuters

By Farah Master

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese policymakers this week weighed an official plan to delay the country’s retirement age, among the lowest in the world, marking a key step to address its shrinking working population.

The discussion by members of the National People’s Congress took place at the 11th meeting of China’s Standing Committee in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

China said in July it would gradually raise its retirement age to allow people to work longer to ease pressure on pension budgets in many provinces already struggling with large deficits.

The retirement age is now 60 for men, about six years lower than in most developed economies, while for women in white-collar jobs it is 55, and for women in factories, for 50 years.

Reform is urgent, with life expectancy in China rising to 78 years by 2021 from about 44 years in 1960 and projected to exceed 80 years by 2050.

“It is an inevitable choice for China to adapt to the new normal of population development,” Mo Rong, director of the Chinese Academy of Social and Labor Sciences, told the People’s Daily.

China’s population has fallen for two consecutive years and is expected to continue to decline for decades, putting pressure on a rapidly aging population.

National health authorities expect the cohort of those aged 60 and over to grow from 280 million to more than 400 million by 2035, equal to the entire current population of the UK and the US combined.

Each Chinese retiree is now supported by the contributions of five workers, half of what it was a decade ago and trending to 4 to 1 in 2030 and 2 to 1 in 2050.

Eleven of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions have pension budget deficits, finance ministry data shows. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences believes the pension system will run out of money by 2035.