Caixin Survey: Age 70 is Income Watershed for Rural Seniors, with 140 Million Trapped in 'Seventy-Year-Old Poverty Trap'

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On June 1, Caixin published the 19th installment of its series “The Arithmetic of Old Age: Counting the Costs of Retirement,” focusing on the “elderly poverty trap” facing 140 million rural seniors in China — age 70 is a critical income watershed, when physical labor capacity declines sharply, while current rural pension levels remain insufficient to provide a basic safety net, forcing the elderly to continue working to support themselves in their twilight years. Li Shi, director of the Institute for Common Prosperity and Development at Zhejiang University, revealed that about 260 million people in China have a monthly income below 1,000 yuan, 90 percent of whom live in rural areas, and nearly half of these low-income rural residents are elderly. The report points out that, unlike urban workers who have a statutory retirement age, rural seniors have never had a clear retirement endpoint, and the delayed retirement policy has very limited substantive impact on their income security.

Caixin