Retirement Report Released

A roundup of news from the global community

August/September 2017

Whether you travel the world or never leave your home country, you are affected by global organizations, international requirements and the increasingly international nature of the actuarial profession itself. Here is some news from around the world.

The Future of retirement in China

LIMRA and the Society of Actuaries (SOA) recently published the final results of their research on the current state and future opportunities of the retirement market in China.

This research project focused on a series of six reports. Authored by Lauren Finnie, this research examines consumer attitudes, beliefs and behaviors on various retirement issues. These issues include retirement goals and objectives, retirement risks, retirement savings, available retirement options, use of financial advisers and strategies for managing retirement risks.

The research included 2,013 participants, ages 35 to 70, from 23 provinces, municipalities and regions in China, with 74 percent of the participants active in the workforce and 26 percent retired. The data was collected in 2015 via online and face-to-face interviews. See Figure 1 for an example of what can be found in The Future of Retirement in China reports.

Figure 1: Retirement Age

There are different retirement ages for men and women in China. In this study, the average retirement age was 58 for male respondents and 54 for female respondents.
Source: The Future of Retirement in China

The size and diversity of China’s massive population made sample design critical. Using face-to-face interviews, LIMRA and the SOA were able to include both urban and non-urban respondents.

“For most workers and retirees, retirement means freedom … a chance to do what they want with their time, including hobbies and traveling,” the researchers noted from the categorized, open-ended responses. But urban and non-urban individuals expressed different goals for their retirement. Maintaining health and well-being is of greater importance to non-urban respondents than to their urban counterparts. Non-urban respondents also are more likely to value spending more time with their friends and family in retirement.