January 2021

China Pensions Outlook

By KPMG Welcome to KPMG’s fourth annual report tracking developments in China’s pension industry. China’s ageing demographics and the consequent challenges continued to draw attention during 2019 and triggered a number of fundamental changes. This report updates and builds on our research in China’s pension industry. In the report, we analyse why Pillar One will continue to be the most important and fastest- developing sector of the pension system in China. We also offer our view on what supporting...

China faces its biggest transformation to date

An ageing population, overreliance on investment and the shifting geopolitical landscape are key challenges as the Asian giant shifts gears, says David Dollar. China’s well-known story of spectacular growth, at around 10 per cent annually for 40 years, is coming to an end because of both domestic and global factors. In analysing China’s prospects for the next several decades, three particular challenges are striking: The shift from a labour-surplus to a labour-scarce society; the shift from investment to innovation as the...

December 2020

China orders Alibaba founder Jack Ma to pare down fintech empire

By Rupert Neate China has escalated its campaign to rein in the vast tech empire controlled by Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba and one of the country’s richest people. Authorities in Beijing, who had on Christmas Eve ordered an investigation into allegations of “monopolistic practices” by Ma’s online retail giant, have now ordered his financial technology company Ant Group to scale back its operations. Pan Gongsheng, a deputy governor of China’s central bank, said Ant’s corporate governance was “not...

Aging China Must Work Longer and Invest Smarter

China is getting older. That means the Chinese people will have to work longer. But deeper reforms will also be necessary to ensure income growth doesn’t stagnate. Read also Asset management CEO arrested in Taiwan pension fund scandal The world’s most populous country has begun aging rapidly over the past decade, but the pace is going to pick up even more as tens of millions reach retirement age. The working population—people between the ages of 15 and 59—will drop by...

China’s Regulators Vow ‘Special’ Oversight of Fintech Giants

China plans to impose “special and innovative regulatory measures” on financial technology behemoths such as Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. to eliminate monopolistic practices and strengthen risk controls. Advances in technology have brought tremendous change to the financial sector, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and Party Secretary of the central bank, wrote in an article outlining regulations over the next five years. It was cited in the official Shanghai Securities News. Financial innovations...

November 2020

China’s plans to hike retirement age from 60 fuels public discontent

China is making a new push to raise one of the world’s lowest retirement ages as it tries to cope with a rapidly aging population, a move that’s already fueling public discontent and will test the Communist Party’s ability to implement reforms. The ruling party alluded to the change earlier this month when it released an outline of its five-year economic plan, which included a recommendation to “implement postponing the retirement age.” Specific measures in the plan are due...

Pension and Health Services Utilization: Evidence from Social Pension Expansion in China

By Shanquan Chen, Xi Chen, Stephen Law, Henry Lucas, Shenlan Tang, Qian Long, Lei Xue and Zheng Wang The proportion of people aged 60 years or over is growing faster than other age groups. The well-being older adults depend heavily on their state of health. This study evaluates the effects of pensions on older adults' health service utilization, and estimates the size of pension required to influence such utilization. Using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement...

China to introduce new policies to tackle ageing population

China is planning to include new measures to encourage more births and address issues associated with its rapidly ageing population and shrinking workforce as part of its new 2021-2025 “five-year plan”, according to state media. Read also Malaysia is ageing, raise retirement age to 65 gradually, says World Bank Citing experts, the official China Daily newspaper said on Monday that the Chinese government will offer extensive financial and policy support to encourage couples to have more children. Read also Australia’s...

Social Insurance, Demographics, and Rural-Urban Migration in China

By Neha Bairoliya, Ray Miller We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model to analyze the impact of social insurance policy and demographic changes on rural-urban migration in China. Quantitative analyses indicate that different social insurance programs not only have differential effects on net migration flows but also on the age and income distribution of migrants. Enrolling migrants in urban pensions discourages rural-urban migration at young ages and reverse migration in old-age. In contrast, urban health insurance incentivizes rural-urban migration...

October 2020

Highlights of China’s elderly care over past five years

China has been running at full tilt to foster a social environment in which senior citizens are respected, cared for and live happily in the span of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), given the country's fast-growing aging population. By the end of 2019, China had a population of 254 million aged 60 or above, accounting for 18.1 percent of the national population. The number is expected to exceed 300 million in the next five years, according to the Ministry of...