Retirement age should be raised to 65: experts

China should gradually increase the retirement age to 65 over the next 10 to 20 years for all workers, top social insurance experts have urged.

The average age of retirement in China is now about 53, while life expectancy is 75, said Wang Dewen, a social protection economist with the World Bank's Beijing office.

The gap is much wider than the 12 years he believes is a reasonable period for an individual to draw a pension.

"The current arrangement has placed huge pressure on the social security fund. It's not sustainable," he warned.

Wang is the leading author of a reform plan his organization proposed in September to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which is in charge of pensions.

The ministry invited seven institutions, including the World Bank and the International Labor Organization, to deliver proposals for its overall reform plan.

If the pension program remains unchanged, a financial deficit will emerge in 2030 and the accumulated shortage will account for about 90 percent of China's GDP in 2050, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in late December.

"The World Bank suggests China gradually raise the retirement age over the next one or two decades, which will help to relieve at least a third of the future deficit for the social security fund," Wang said, adding that consensus has been reached on such an approach.

Chinese media have speculated whether the government will pilot the reforms among civil servants or blue-collar workers.

However, at a news conference in December, Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister of human resources and social security, dismissed the prospect of initially targeting a particular group.

Wang said the reform should be rolled out nationwide.

Hu Aidi, a specialist on social security for the International Labor Organization, said there are other options for maintaining and improving the sustainability of a pension program in the face of an aging population, such as increasing contributions or reducing pensions.

"Increasing the retirement age is used more frequently from an international perspective," she said.