China is the world’s most populated country but decades of a strictly enforced one-child policy, shortage of social security funds and a comparatively young retirement age is forcing Beijing to act in the face of a shrinking work force.

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Analysts estimate the country’s labor force will lose 35 million workers over the next five years and that during that same period, the number of citizens eligible for retirement will surge to more than 300 million. That’s almost the entire population of the United States.

They also note that over the next decade, the country will be looking at a social security shortfall of $1 trillion. But getting people to agree to changes in the retirement age has never been easy regardless of whether it is France, Russia, the U.S. or China.

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Ready to retire

According to a survey conducted last year by the Changjiang Daily in Wuhan, more than 80% of the 96,000 responders online opposed delaying the retirement age, mainly because of their physical decline and the difficulty in finding suitable jobs.

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However, some see benefits in the change. “Your income will decrease after you retire,” one Beijing resident told VOA, explaining that, if her physical condition allows her to continue working, and she has nothing else to do, delayed retirement may be a better long term financial plan.

Chinese officials have slowly been warming the public up to the idea. At recent high-level political meetings in Beijing, they it clear that change is coming — albeit gradually.

In his annual work report, Chinese Premier Keqiang Li  said the retirement age should be raised ”to implement a national strategy to actively address the aging of the population.”

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