Beijing will gradually raise China’s retirement age in the next 15 years, officials announced on Friday, as the country grapples with a quickly aging population after four decades of birth restrictions.
The decision, which represents the first major adjustment in 70 years, was approved by China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), during its Standing Committee meeting on Friday morning.
According to the proposal released by Xinhua, the retirement age for male workers will increase from 60 to 63. The retirement age for female white-collar workers will increase from 55 to 58, while the retirement age for female blue-collar workers will increase from 50 to 55.
These changes will take effect gradually over the next 15 years, starting on Jan. 1, 2025.
Beijing decided to raise the retirement age as it faces a demographic crisis that analysts say could jeopardize the ambitions of its ruling Chinese Communist Party. China’s fertility rates have dropped to a record low in 2023, two years after the authorities allowed families to have three children because of an aging population and a shrinking workforce.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Wang Xiaoping, head of China’s Human Resources and Social Security Ministry, said the adjusted retirement age could “mitigate the declining trend in the working-age population” and “maintain the momentum and vitality of economic and social development.”
“As life expectancy has risen to the current 78.6 years from about 40 years in the 1950s, the rising retirement age allows for the optimal utilization of human resources,” Wang told reporters on Friday.
Amid declining fertility rates and lengthening life expectancies, Wang stated that the trend of population aging has become obvious.
By 2023, approximately 297 million people, accounting for 21 percent of China’s current population, are aged over 60. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, this percentage is expected to rise to 28 percent by 2040, with around 402 million people in China being older than 60.
David Huang, a U.S.-based economic researcher and commentator, said postponing the retirement age could ease the strain on China’s pension system.
The country’s main public pension system is at risk of depleting its funds within the next decade, according to projections by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-backed think tank. Despite state subsidies, a diminishing worker-to-retiree ratio is expected to result in a deficit of 118 billion yuan (about $16.7 billion) by 2028. The think tank calculated that this shortfall is projected to soar to 11 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion) by 2050.
“Delaying retirement can allow more people to continue contributing [to the pension system], thereby addressing the urgent need,” Huang told The Epoch Times.
A recent graduate who just landed a job at a state-backed bank expressed concerns that the policy could worsen the already high youth unemployment rate.
“The policy may lead to more senior people continuing to occupy job positions, making it more difficult for young people to find jobs,” the Beijing resident, who declined to provide his name due to safety concerns, told The Epoch Times.
According to the latest official data, the unemployment rate among Chinese aged 16 to 24 was 17.1 percent in July, up from 13.2 percent in June, and represented the highest level since the authorities revised the rules for calculating the unemployment rate in February.
The news has sparked widespread discussion on China’s social media platform Weibo. Within hours after the official announcement, two related hashtags had become the platform’s top three most searched keywords on Friday afternoon.
People employed in state-backed companies or civil service voiced frustration that they had to stay at their jobs for a longer period of time.
Many shared anxieties about the possibility of authorities further increasing the retirement age by the time they reach it, if Beijing is still struggling to cope with the pension pressure.
“Still another 32 years before I can retire. Who knows what the future holds? Perhaps the retirement age will be gradually raised over the next couple of decades,” a Weibo user wrote.
Luo Ya contributed to this report.
