Fair retirement extension

Given the longer life expectancy and rapid decrease in the labor-age population, extending the retirement age is an inevitable choice for the government. This is why at the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China it was agreed there should be a study on the issue.

When Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister of human resources and social security, expanded on this on Tuesday, he said that the extension will be incremental and the policy will be published several years before its implementation, which will be in different stages for different professions.

It is undoubtedly necessary for the government to adjust its policies to meet the challenge of an increasingly aging society. According to the ministry, China's senior residents above the age of 60 will reach 200 million, about 14.8 percent of the population, by the end of this year, and the figure is expected to grow to 248 million by the year 2020 and more than 400 million by 2050, when they will account for 30 percent of the population.