China mulls pension reform to ease burden

BEIJING -- Chinese experts have proposed a new pension scheme, raising the pension age, to ease the financial burden of an aging population.

The new scheme suggests that the initial pension age for both men and women should be raised to 65 as of 2030 from the current retirement age of 60 for men and 50 for women.

The age of 65 was chosen based on the pace of aging in China but could be adjusted for laborers undertaking especially arduous work, said Yang Yansui, an expert from Tsinghua University, in a Wednesday report on people.com.cn, the official website of the People's Daily.

China will have become a "super aging society" by 2035, which means every two workers will need to support one elderly person, she said.

"We should promote pension reform to prepare for a heavy financial burden," said Yang, adding that raising the pension age does not imply an adjustment of the retirement age.

"The initial pension age and the retirement age are two different things. People can decide to quit work before getting old-age pensions as long as they have made their contributions as required," Yang said.

The scheme, drafted by experts from Tsinghua University, was unveiled on Aug 12 to solicit feedback from the public.