The average age of Chinese employees filing for retirement dropped to 51 last year from 52 in 2000, said Zhang Zuoji, minister of Labor and Social Security.
This is a result of the early retirement policy adopted by many state-owned enterprises in the country, the minister said at a meeting of the Beijing delegation to the National People's Congress Friday.
The number of pensioners has been increasing by two million a year since 1999, compared with an annual 700,000 to 800,000 in the previous years.
Early retirement is encouraged in China's bankrupt enterprises and specific industries, including the textile industry. The age of retirement at mines faced with exhausted resources can be as young as 45 for a male worker, who normally retires at 60.
According to statistics, China registered 31 million pensioners at the end of 2001, who received a total of 205.4 billion yuan (US$ 24. 7 billion) in pensions that year.
The number of pensioners is expected to reach 33 million this year.
( March 9, 2002)
