China plans to gradually raise the retirement age to cope with the rapid aging of the population, the Global Times reported, citing an expert from the Ministry of Human Resources, as reported by Reuters.

China has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world: 60 for men, 55 for women in offices and 50 for factory workers.

Jin Vigang, president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences, says a “progressive, flexible and differentiated way to raise the retirement age” is being considered, meaning it will first be pushed back by a few months and then raised. .

“For those who are approaching retirement age, retirement will be delayed for several months,” Global Times writes with reference to Jin. Young people will have to work a few years longer, but there will be a long period of adjustment and transition, he said, adding that “the most important feature of the reform is that it allows people to choose when they want to retire. conditions”.

As China’s population of 1.4 billion shrinks and ages, largely due to policies that limited couples to one child (between 1980 and 2015), pressure on the pension budget is mounting.

China’s National Health Commission expects the number of people over 60 to grow from 280 million to more than 400 million by 2035, equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom and the United States combined.

At the moment, each pensioner is supported by the contributions of 5 employees. The rate is half of what it was 10 years ago, and the trend is to reach 4 to 1 in 2030 and 2 to 1 in 2050.

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