By raising the retirement age, has China created a care crisis?
Older women tend to look after the country’s young children
CHINA’S PENSIONS are underfunded and its population is getting older. So the government’s recent decision to raise the retirement age for state pensions seemed overdue. But it may create other problems, most notably in the field of child care. And these challenges may lead young people to have fewer babies, exacerbating the country’s demographic crisis.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “The trade-off”
From the September 21st 2024 edition
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