“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,” the party’s central committee said in a key policy document highlighting the reforms.

It did not specify how much the age of retirement would be raised and by when, but a China Pension Development Report released at the end of 2023 wrote that “65 years old may be the final result after adjustment”.

The plan has been on the cards for a few years, as China’s pension budget dwindles.

The state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in 2019 that the country’s main state pension fund will run out of money by 2035 – and that was an estimate before the…