BEIJING, March 11  --China's current retirement age is set at 60 for men, 55 for female white-collar workers and as low as 50 for female blue-collar workers. Right now, three people with a job support one retiree. If the plan remains as is then by 2050, that ratio would change to an impossible 1.3 workers for every retiree.

Chinese people live on average to about 75 years old. That's 30 years more than when the system was introduced, back in the early 1950s. And life expectancy is only expected to grow longer. All this makes it clear the country needs to raise the retirement age to cope with its rapidly aging population.

But any adjustment must be gradual. The retirement age will only be raised by a few months each year after the plan is implemented. It will be rolled out by 2017. Before then, the public will have to reach a consensus on the change.