China mulls gradually raising retirement age

(ECNS) -- China's top legislature on Tuesday reviewed a draft decision on gradually raising the statutory retirement age.

Under the current retirement policy, men in urban areas retire at 60, and women retire at 50 or 55, depending on their job or occupation.

Figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed that China's elderly population, age 60 and above, accounted for more than one-fifth of the nation's total population last year, and the aging problem may intensify in the future.

Additionally, the Chinese people's average life expectancy has been continuously rising over past decades, reaching 78.6 years in 2023, up from 67 in 1980 and 76.34 in 2015, according to recent figures from the National Health Commission.

The aging population has become a fundamental condition across China. Against the backdrop of high-quality population development, there is an urgent need to further unleash the potential of social labor resources and promote productivity to a more appropriate level, Guan Bo, a researcher from the Academy of Macroeconomic Research administered by the National Development and Reform Commission, told CCTV. 

In the past few decades, there have been notable changes in labor resources, including the extension of life expectancy, improvement in health levels, and most notably, the strengthening of social production capacity. These evolutions have created the conditions for policy adjustments, Guan said.

However, the draft decision sparked heated discussion on China's social media Weibo. 

With the immense stress in our daily life, being able to reach the age of delayed retirement is lucky enough, joked some netizens.