THE MINISTRY OF Human Resources and Social Security recently said it is drawing up a detailed plan to compensate for the deficiencies of the social security fund, which will require people to work to a later age and so receive their pensions later in life. In a column for Beijing News, He Yafu, an expert in demographics, suggests it would be better to introduce a flexible retirement age system:

Different people have different health conditions. Some people might still be energetic when they reach the age of 60, while some might already suffer a serious illness. This will become a more serious problem should the authorities raise the retirement age for workers.

Therefore, a flexible retirement age system would be better. In the United States the average retirement age is 62. However, this is considered as early retirement and people retiring at this age will only receive 70 percent of the full pension that would be paid on reaching full retirement age, which varies between 65 and 67 depending on which year you were born. Of course, people can choose to retire later than normal, too, and the later they retire the higher their pension will be.