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- China is planning to raise its retirement age, but the move has sparked an online backlash.
- Chinese people retire relatively young, but the country has a rapidly aging population.
- Upping the retirement age in China has been floated for years, but is not popular.
China's Communist Party has resurfaced plans to add years to the country's retirement age, in a move that has caused considerable backlash online.
The party plans to raise the retirement age for urban workers from the current figure of 60 years for men, and between 50-55 years for women.
Chinese retirees get a pension from a state fund.
Following a policy announcement on Sunday, the topic quickly trended on Chinese social media site Weibo.
A related hashtag on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like site, also garnered more than 100 million views, according to CNN.
One popular comment spotted by the outlet said: "Young people have a hard time finding jobs, but elderly people are not allowed to retire. What are you doing?"
However, according to The New York Times, some of the online chatter has since disappeared, in a possible sign of government censorship at work.
Perhaps in awareness of how badly the announcement might go down, the government's statement over the weekend was notably cautious, using wording that suggested the move to raise the retirement age may be somewhat voluntary.
"In line with the principle of voluntary participation with appropriate flexibility, we will advance reform to gradually raise the statutory retirement age in a prudent and orderly manner," it said, according to Reuters.
The reforms would be rolled out by 2029, the news agency added, with no further details given.
The CCP's statement came after the closing of the party's Third Plenum, the latest in a series of meetings that happen every five years and which are looked at globally for insight into the country's direction.
International onlookers noted that the meeting offered few fresh signals, including on the planned retirement policy, which, despite the backlash, has been around in some form for more than 10 years.
China has one of the lowest retirement ages in the developed world, stemming back to a time when its life expectancy was significantly lower.
But it faces a rapidly aging population combined with a slowed birth rate, a set of demographics that has strained the country's pension pot.
Official government communications acknowledge the growing elderly population, saying that as of the end of 2023, people over 60 made up 21.1% of the country's population.
At 297 million people, that's a figure that approaches the entire US population.
The party argues that older people have stronger purchasing power than previous generations. However, indications on the ground suggest a more difficult picture.
Part-time work is common for older Chinese people, and meager pension provisions mean many cannot afford to retire at all, according to the Japan Times.
In February last year, thousands of retirees protested in several Chinese cities against cuts to their benefits, The New York Times reported.
According to the outlet, the cuts were seen as a breach of a lifelong social contract in which accepting low pay throughout their working life would be rewarded with a generous retirement policy.