Chinese policymakers discuss proposal to delay retirement age

By Farah Master

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

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

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

The retirement age is now 60 for men, about six years below that in most developed economies, while for women in white-collar work it is 55, and 50 for women who work in factories.

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 Labour and Social Sciences told the People’s Daily.

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

National health authorities expect the cohort of those aged 60 and older to rise from 280 million to more than 400 million by 2035, equal to the entire current populations of Britain and the United States combined.

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

Eleven of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions are running pension budget deficits, finance ministry data show. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences sees the pension system running out of money by 2035.