China plans to change the mandatory retirement age of its citizens, as part of efforts to alleviate its pension fund crisis that has worsened in recent years due to an increase in the country’s aging population. On Feb. 21, China’s State Council announced that it would implement a gradual delay in the legal retirement age, and acknowledged that China’s aging population is mounting rapidly. The aging population has become a pressing issue in China. According to Jan. 17 data by the Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, China’s working-age population of 16 to 59 accounts for 62.5 percent of the total population; those over 60 account for 18.9 percent; and over 65 is 205.6 million, about one-seventh of the population, showing a rise of 14.96 million over the 2020 national census. Shandong and Jiangsu Provinces were the first to implement “gradually delayed retirement” in January and March, respectively. The official documents …