Chinese people's average life expectancy rose to 78.6 years in 2023 from just 35 in 1949. Meanwhile, the average years of education for the newly-added workforce increased from eight years in 1982 to 14 years in 2023, thus postponing people's time for landing their first job.

The new move to gradually raise statutory retirement age over the course of 15 years from 2025 – from 60 to 63 for men, from 55 to 58 for women cadres and from 50 to 55 for women blue-collar workers – will help ease the decline in the working-age population and better utilize human resource.