72% worry about post-retirement expenses

Senior citizens chat at a retirement home in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

Nearly 72 percent admit that they worry about life post-retirement, China Youth Daily reported Thursday.

According to an online survey conducted by ePanel Inc, a market research and consulting organization, out of 2,200 respondents only 18.2 percent did not express worry about post-retirement life.

The rest 10 percent said it was difficult to comment on the issue.

The retirement pension is so little that I will not be able to afford the daily expenses, said one of the respondents Zhuang Liping, a 38-year-old who works in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company.

Apart from contributing to the pension fund, 69 percent save money and 36.4 percent have bought commercial insurances to prepare for life after retirement.

The total pension fund income of employees nationwide was 2.33 trillion yuan ($372 billion) and the expenses were 1.98 trillion yuan in 2014, said Yin Weimin, minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Related: China to raise retirement age as pressure on pension fund rises

China's pension fund will come under tremendous pressure to break even in coming years and as such, the government needs to gradually raise the official retirement age to salvage the finances, a top official said on Tuesday.

Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said the government will gradually raise the official retirement age, which is as low as 50 for some female workers, but stressed that any policy changes will be phased in over five years.

He did not say when retirement ages will be raised.