CV NEWS FEED // The Chinese government is currently evaluating a plan to raise the retirement age due to an aging population, according to a recent CTV news report.
China’s National People’s Congress discussed the policy in Beijing on September 10, during the 11th meeting of China’s Standing Committee, CTV states.
Currently, in China, men can retire at 60, women in white-collar jobs can retire at 55, and women working in factories can retire at 50. However, the life expectancy in China has risen from 44 in 1960 to 78 in 2021, while the population size has been falling for the past two years, according to CTV. The population is projected to continue falling for decades.
In the next 10 years, the demographic of Chinese citizens over 60 will rise from 280 million to more than 400 million, according to the country’s national health authorities.
China has promised and instituted other policies to combat its shrinking population. CatholicVote previously reported on a Reuters article that analyzed how China’s push for urbanization counteracts its promised pro-natalist policies.
The Reuters article stated that China “is rapidly running out of mothers.” The country’s infertility rate is 18%, with the average number of children at 1.3 per woman.
The country has also recently stopped international adoptions, as CatholicVote reported. The article states that since China instituted its one-child policy in 1992, over 160,000 Chinese children, most of whom were either girls or special needs, were adopted by non-Chinese families.
However, fewer children are being placed for adoption. While approximately 44,000 children were placed for adoption in 2009, only about 15,000 children were placed in 2018.
