BEIJING. Starting in 2025, China will raise its retirement age in response to its shrinking population and rapidly aging workforce, marking a significant policy shift aimed at alleviating mounting pressure on the nation’s social security system. The country, which currently has one of the youngest retirement ages among the world’s major economies, passed the new regulation through the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Friday.
Under the new policy, the retirement age will be increased gradually over the next 15 years. By the end of the reform, men will retire at 63 years old, while women will retire at 55 or 58 years old, depending on their occupation. This is a marked change from the current retirement age of 60 for men, 50 for women in blue-collar jobs, and 55 for women in white-collar positions.
The announcement comes as China faces unprecedented demographic pressures. By the end of 2023, the country had nearly 300 million people aged 60 and above. Projections from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences indicate that this figure will balloon to 400 million by 2035, surpassing the current population of the United States. As a result, the nation’s pension fund is under immense strain, with some estimates suggesting it could run out of money by 2035.
“We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is facing high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia, emphasizing the urgency of the reform.
The reform will take effect progressively, with retirement ages adjusted according to birth dates. For instance, a man born in January 1971 will retire at 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, while a man born in May 1971 will retire at 61 years and 8 months in January 2033.
Long Overdue Reform
Experts view the policy change as long overdue. With the dependency ratio—a measure comparing the number of retirees to the number of workers—currently at 21.8%, China faces an increasing burden as fewer young workers support the growing elderly population. This number is expected to rise sharply in the coming years.
“This is happening everywhere,” noted Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, referring to similar challenges faced by countries like the United States. “But in China, with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger.”
China’s demographic challenges are exacerbated by declining birth rates. In 2022, the country’s population shrank for the first time in decades, with 850,000 fewer people than the previous year. In 2023, this trend continued, with a further decline of 2 million people.
Mixed Reactions from the Public
The gradual retirement age increase has sparked mixed reactions across China. Lu, a 52-year-old Beijing resident who will now retire at 61 instead of 60, welcomed the change. “I view this as a good thing, because our society’s getting older, and in developed countries, the retirement age is higher,” he said.
On the other hand, Li Bin, a 35-year-old event planner, expressed some disappointment. “It’s three years less of playtime. I had originally planned to travel after retirement,” she said, though she acknowledged that the increase wasn’t as drastic as she had feared.
Despite the largely positive feedback from state-controlled media, social media reactions revealed some anxiety. Of the 13,000 comments on Xinhua’s announcement, only a few dozen were visible, suggesting that many had been censored.
As China grapples with the realities of an aging society, the retirement age reform is seen as a necessary but potentially painful adjustment, especially with youth unemployment already high and the economy facing challenges. The gradual implementation of the policy is intended to ease the transition while ensuring the sustainability of the nation’s pension system in the long term.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
