China | Sunset delayed

Anger abounds as China raises its strikingly low retirement age

Old people will have to toil a little longer, assuming they can keep their jobs

A group of elderly men chatting on a bench on a park bench in Fuyand, China
Photograph: Getty Images

CHINA’S LEADER, Xi Jinping, boasts that his political system has a matchless ability to get difficult things done. “For anything that benefits the party and the people,” he has said, “we must act boldly and decisively.” Yet it was not until September 13th, after years of indecision, that China announced the first raising of its retirement age since the 1950s. From among the world’s lowest, it will begin to creep closer to rich-world norms.

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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Sunset delayed”

From the September 21st 2024 edition

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