Chinese Farmers Hit Hardest by New Retirement Scheme, Experts Say

The recent change in China’s struggling pension system will leave older Chinese farmers with fewer years to enjoy their pensions and more years to contribute.

A farmer ploughs among rice seedlings in a field at the Xiahe Village in the outskirts of Nanjing of Jiangsu Province, China, on June 12, 2007. China Photos/Getty Images

The Chinese regime’s decision to raise China’s minimum retirement age will impact more than 400 million people, according to data from its National Bureau of Statistics. This will leave older Chinese with fewer years to enjoy their pensions and more years to contribute.

That would put over 200 million Chinese elderly farmers in a tough spot. Unlike urban workers, whose pension plan began in 1978, farmers didn’t become eligible until 2009.