China plans to hike retirement age

China is making a new push to raise one of the world’s lowest retirement ages as it tries to cope with a rapidly aging population, a move that’s already fueling public discontent and will test the Communist Party’s ability to implement reforms.The ruling party alluded to the change earlier this month when it released an outline of its five-year economic plan, which included a recommendation to “implement postponing the retirement age.”

The Communist Party’s statement produced a fierce backlash domestically, with tens of thousands of angry comments posted on  social media platform Weibo. Top among the complaints were from those closest to retiring, expressing anger over the prospect of delayed access to their pensions. Younger people argued that an increase in older workers would reduce their employment opportunities. China’s retirement age has remained unchanged for more than four decades at 60 for men and 55 for female white-collar workers, even as life-expectancy has risen. In places like Japan and Taiwan, most men and women can retire and start drawing a pension at 65. The global average was 62.7 years for men and 61.3 years for women, according to an analysis of 70 countries by insurer Allianz SE.

Experts say that raising the retirement age would also help China maintain economic growth, by slowing the rate at which the working-age population shrinks as a result of falling birth rates. Beijing estimates the number of people aged 60 or more will approach 487 million by 2050, compared with 254 million last year. China experienced a baby boom in the early 1960s, resulting in more than 200 million people who will reach 60 in the next decade. As a result, China’s leaders will have no option but to increase the pension age during the next five-year plan that begins in 2021, said Wang Feng, a demographer at the University of California, Irvine.“A massive number of people will reach this age during the next five years,” he said. “If they don’t act now that would impose a tremendous fiscal burden.”