Turning nation's aging challenge into opportunity

A recent report said most Chinese people are generally unprepared for retirement, and that preparations are greatly affected by marriage status, health condition, educational background and income. The report was based on a survey conducted by the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University and the life insurance company Aegon THTF Life Insurance.

The report shows that the index of Chinese residents' preparedness for retirement was 5.53 last year, roughly the same as the year prior. The index is calculated by measuring people's sense of responsibility for their retirement, financial planning, plans for retirement, savings for retirement and confidence in gaining expected incomes.

The index is set to float from 0 to 10, with a lower number meaning insufficient preparation for retirement. The index was 5.7 in 2022 and 6.78 in 2021.

Experts said it's important that not only basic elderly services are enriched, but the pension insurance system is enhanced.

Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said it's necessary for individuals to plan for retirement in advance and take into full consideration potential problems in income, living costs and whether to rejoin the job market after retirement age.

"Among these elements, income or pension is the most important thing affecting people's choice for their retirement life," Li said. He added that authorities should make efforts to optimize the pension system and improve supplements for private pensions and commercial pension insurance to ease the burden on basic national pension insurance.

"Bettering public pension services is also of importance, and the government can channel more investment and resources to support elderly nursing homes and grassroots nursing services providers to enable every individual to benefit from the nation's basic pension services," he said.

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn