Beijing -- China needs to adopt a package of measures, including postponing
the retirement age, to deal with the aging of the population, said a renowned
Chinese expert.
"The retirement age for men and women should be postponed to 63 or 65 or even
further to deal with a labour shortfall," said Hu An'gang, director of the
National Conditions Research Center of Tsinghua University.
Under Chinese law, a man retires at 60, women cadres at 55 and women workers
at 50.
China's Social Sciences Academic Press published a book, which contains
research reports by Hu An'gang and other leading Chinese experts on the issue of
aging population, last month.
It predicts that by the middle of this century, there will be more than 400
million senior citizens over 60, or 30 percent of the entire population. By
then, every two workers will need to provide for one senior citizen.
"One of the direct results of the aging society is a drop in the labor force
supply, which leads to an overall reshaping of society," said Gu Baochang,
professor of the population and development center of prestigious Renmin
University in Beijing.
In the book, the experts also recommend improving education to enhance the
skills of the workforce, which may partly offset the influence of a labor force
decrease, and improving the health system.
A report on senior citizens, released by a national work committee in
February this year, says that China entered the aging society in 1999 when
citizens aged over 60 exceeded 10 percent of the total population for the first
time. This was "too early" and has left China ill-prepared.
Developed countries started to age after carrying out modernization, and with
per capita GDP of 5,000 to 10,000 U.S. dollars.
By contrast, China has entered the aging society without having fully
modernized and its economy is still undeveloped, with per capita GDP just over
US$1,000. It therefore lacks the economic muscle needed to tackle the aging
issue.
