China Watch

In this sense, she is anything but alone.

The proportion of people 60 and older is growing faster in China than in any other major country, with the number of retirees set to double between 2005 and 2015, when it is expected to reach 200 million. By midcentury, according to United Nations projections, roughly 430 million people8212;about a third of the population8212;will be retirees.

Changes in the country8217;s population structure are taking place hand in hand with changes in the structure of the Chinese family. China8217;s one-child policy, which began in 1980, means that, beginning with the current generation of young adults, couples will face the difficult task of caring for four parents through old age.

By the same token, the ratio of workers to retired people will decline from about six to one now to about two to one by 2040.

Under the current two-tiered system, the retirement age for blue-collar urban workers is 50 for women and 55 for men, while for higher-grade professionals and government workers it is 55 for women and 60 for men. Obviously, raising the retirement ages would ease a substantial amount of pressure on the pension system. But there are no plans to do so, and raising the retirement ages would present another set of problems for the government, experts here say.