Older performers dance at an event held by the Beijing Folk Custom Museum to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival in Beijing on Oct 23. CHENG GONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

China will progressively raise the statutory retirement age in next 15 years starting from 2025, after conducting thorough research of the nation's current population structure and people's health condition, with the move aiming to facilitate more reasonable and better use of human resources.

The 11th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, which concluded on Friday, approved a decision to raise the retirement age of male workers to 63, and females to 55 or 58, depending on their jobs or occupations.

The current retirement age for men in urban areas is 60, and women 50 or 55 — depending on their jobs — which is among the world's lowest for major economies. It's the nation's first adjustment of retirement ages since the current system was launched in the 1950s.

The changes will take effect from Jan 1, 2025, and are based on a proposed policy by the State Council, China's Cabinet. The new policy also stresses "being voluntary and flexible", giving people greater latitude to plan or choose their own retirement.

Under the new policy, for male employees who originally retired at the age of 60 and females who left the workforce at 55, the retirement age will be adjusted accordingly to facilitate compliance with the new system.

The government launched retirement age calculating services on official websites and WeChat mini programs at the official account of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

People will be allowed to voluntarily retire no more than three years in advance after reaching the minimum year of pension contributions, which will gradually rise from 15 to 20 years from 2030. But they are not permitted to retire earlier than the previous statutory age.

Also, people can voluntarily postpone their retirement age for no more than three years after reaching the new statuary retirement and reaching an agreement with their employers. Employers should not force employees to choose retirement ages against their will.

Wang Xiaoping, minister of human resources and social security, said that the retirement policy has become more flexible compared with the previous "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Wang said that the adjustment is based on the current population structure, people's improving health condition and the public's concerns of a relative lack of flexibly in arranging their working and retiring lives.

"Chinese people's average life expectancy rose to 78.6 years in 2023 from around just 40 in the 1950s. Years of schooling also increased from eight years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to currently 14 years, thus postponing people's time for landing their first job," she said.

The new policy will also help ease the decline in the working-age population, address the aging problem, and maintain vibrant economic growth and social development, she added.

"The number of people in China aged 60 and above reached 297 million by the end of 2023, accounting for 21.1 percent of the nation's total population. Among them, the number of those ages 65 and over was 217 million," she said. "Meanwhile, the working-age population saw continuous decreases from 2012 at a rate of 3 million per year, and the fall may intensify in the future."

The new policy also highlights employment support for youths and workers at older ages, and encourages local authorities to tighten prevention of age-related job discrimination while prompting employers to hire more senior candidates.

Under the new policy, employers who hire workers older than the statuary retirement age should give such new employees basic working benefits related to income, right to rest, safety and job-related injury insurance.

Li Zhong, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said that the new retirement policy will be implemented steadily and at a modest pace, and positions vacated by new retirees may not be that suitable for youths, so the changes will likely have a mild impact on youth employment.

Li said the nation will continue to prioritize youth employment to let it grow at a reasonable rate and with higher quality.