China raising retirement age, now among youngest in world's major economies
Beijing (AP): China starting next year will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world's major economies.
The extension was considered long overdue in a country facing a shrinking population and an ageing workforce.
The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and 55 and 58 years for women depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men, and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women in white-collar jobs.
The policy will be implemented starting in January next year, according to the announcement from China's legislature reported by state broadcaster CCTV.
“We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure, that's why I think it's now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China's population and its ties to the economy.
The change will take effect progressively based on a person's birthdate.
For example, a man born in January 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, according to the chart released along with the policy. A man born in May 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 8 months in January of 2033.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
