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Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours
China said on Thursday it would expand a private pension scheme nationwide from December 15, following a pilot effort, as it moves to plug a pension gap in plans to help a rapidly aging population.
Those covered by public pension insurance will be allowed to open private pension accounts and invest up to 12,000 yuan ($1,652) a year in financial products, five official bodies, including the human resources ministry, said in a joint notice.
The scheme expands the category of eligible pension products by including government bonds, designated pension savings and index funds, they added.
According to the latest directory of individual pension funds released by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as of today, there are 284 pension funds products, with 85 index funds run by 30 institutions being recently added.
The new provisions have also introduced rules to allow earlier withdrawals under specified conditions, including permanent disability, severe illness, unemployment, and having moved abroad.
More than 60 million people have opened personal pension accounts since the introduction of China's private pension system in late 2022, data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security showed.
Private pensions are a part of the “third pillar” of China's pensions system to supplement the public safety net and corporate annuities.
With approximately 217 million people aged 65 and above, China is home to the world's largest elderly population, and roughly one in every four seniors globally.
A society is considered "aged" when those aged 65 and above account for 14 percent of the total population, and "super-aged" when the proportion exceeds 20 percent, according to the WHO. The figure stood at 15.4 percent in China in 2023.
The China Research Center on Aging predicts that the silver economy could grow from its current value of 7 trillion yuan to 30 trillion yuan by 2035. By 2050, elderly consumption is expected to reach 40 to 69 trillion yuan — accounting for up to 20.7 percent of the country's GDP.
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