Asian Insider

China grapples with greying issue

The government now wants to raise the retirement age - 60 for men and 55 for women - something it has not done for more than four decades. PHOTO: AFP
People praying for good luck on Chinese New Year’s Eve at a temple in Nanning, the capital of China’s southern Guangxi region. PHOTO: AFP
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SINGAPORE - China's 2020 economic growth figure of 2.3 per cent, though low in comparison to the 6 per cent of 2019, grabbed headlines as the country showed a remarkable recovery from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The world's second-largest economy also narrowed the gap with the United States, according to Chinese researcher Feng Xuming of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Its gross domestic product (GDP) last year was 70.8 per cent of America's, up from 66.7 per cent the previous year, he told Caixin magazine.

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