China set to raise retirement age for first time in decades

China announced Friday that it will raise its retirement age for the first time in decades, as the world’s second-largest economy grapples with declining birth rates and an aging workforce.

The country’s top legislative body adopted a draft proposal to gradually implement the measures, state media reported on Friday.
China’s retirement ages are among the lowest in the world, and they have stayed unaltered since the 1950s.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has decided to gradually raise the mandatory retirement age for both men and women beginning January 1 of 2025. Over a 15-year period, it will rise from 60 to 63 for men, 55 to 58 for women in white-collar positions, and 50 to 55 for women in factories.

According to a chart released by China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, people born in 1965 will have their retirement postponed by one month. Those born in 1984 would have to wait up to five more years to retire.

The changes have been the subject of heated discussion among the Chinese public since they were proposed earlier this year.

Young people already face intense competition to find jobs, while midcareer workers are being laid off as the Chinese economy recovers more slowly than expected after three years of pandemic isolation.

Raising the retirement age would ease pressure on the pension system at a time when local and provincial governments are facing massive budget deficits. Adding to the pressure is the fact that people are living longer in China, where life expectancy was 78 in 2021 compared with 51 in 1962, according to the World Bank.

By 2035, the number of people 60 and older in China will exceed 450 million, of the total population, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The workforce needed to support the retirement-age population is also shrinking, with the number of births falling 10% in 2022 to their lowest level on record.

Last year, China fell to the world’s second-most-populous country after India.