Are you ready for 100 years of life? As we live longer, how do we keep the quality of our lives healthy? Is it too early for post-80s to talk about retirement?

In 2020 the country during the two sessions, People's Daily "jin tai round table" invited Chinese new supply-side economics institute director jia kang, deputy minister of macroeconomic research department under the State Council development research center, Feng Qiaobin, secretary general of the China pension financial 50 people BBS Dong Keyong's studio, video attachment to the national social security fund council vice director wang zhongming, Discuss the topic of "pension" together.

Experts say that society's perception of "old" is changing, profoundly affecting the concept of old-age care and social governance.

Status quo: From "aging" to "aging"

With the development and progress of human society, the aging of the population also comes with it. It is thought that since the Industrial Revolution, life expectancy has increased by 2-3 years every 10 years, and the "100-year life" is no longer a dream.

The growth of human life expectancy is also accelerating the arrival of an aging society. According to a report released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, about 9 percent of the world's population was over 65 in 2019, and by 2050, that number will reach 16 percent. The number of people over the age of 80 was estimated at 143 million in 2019 and is expected to reach 426 million by 2050.

According to statistics, by the end of 2019, the population aged 65 and over was 176.03 million, accounting for 12.6 percent; It is expected that the number will exceed 300 million by 2025, and the proportion of people aged 65 and above in the total population may exceed 20% after 2030, when China will enter a severely aging society.

According to the United Nations, a country or region has entered an "aging society" when the number of people over 65 years old accounts for more than 7% of the total population. Among neighboring countries, South Korea is entering a "super aged" society, and Japan has proposed a "never retire society"

"There are people who are 70 years old, but they are in good health and they accept new things quickly. You can't say they are old. Society's perception of 'old' is changing, affecting the concept of old-age care and social governance." Jia Kang, head of the China Academy of New Supply-side Economics, said the measure of "old" is changing and no longer takes age as the only dimension.

At the same time, jia said the traditional family pension model relies on intergenerational relationships. However, when the elderly are ill and children are balancing their social and family attributes, the concept of "parents not traveling far away" and "raising children for old age" is out of touch with reality.

As the old saying goes, "an old family is like a treasure." At present, it is not uncommon for people aged 60 to take care of people aged 90. When one person is sick, the whole family goes to work, and they "endure" and take care of them unprofessionally. Pension has become a huge social demand.

When home-based care is not available, how can communities and professional nursing homes play a role?

The first question is, where will the money come from and will the supply be sufficient?

Solution:

The three "pillars" of pensions need to be balanced

In 2020, the Report on the Work of the Government made it clear that "basic pensions for retirees and minimum basic pensions for urban and rural residents should be raised", and that "the nearly 300 million people in China who receive pensions must be paid in full and on time".

Wang Zhongmin, former vice chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, said that the public pension aims to integrate the whole society with the generations, with the young paying for the pension and the present old paying for it.

"In the early days of reform and opening up, there were many young people and few old people. The number of people currently contributing to the social security system is shrinking rapidly as the population ages. Fewer people pay, more people receive, and the gap slowly increases." Wang zhongmin said.

China's current pension system framework includes public pension (the first pillar), occupational pension (the second pillar) and personal pension (the third pillar).

Dong Keyong, secretary general of China Pension Finance 50 forum, said that the first pillar of public pension belongs to the government, the pay-as-you-go model; The second pillar occupational pension is given tax incentives by the government, and the unit and individual contribute jointly. The third pillar personal pension is provided by the government with tax incentives and voluntary participation by individuals.

"The core problem facing China's pension system right now is that the first pillar takes on too many functions and there is an imbalance between the three pillars." "Said Dong keyong.

Jia suggested increasing the proportion of the second and third pillars. "This is a direction to be taken in system building and supporting reform," he said.

During the two sessions, Jiang Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, also said that the third pillar of pension is an important part of China's multi-tiered old-age security system. He suggested that a policy document on the third pillar should be published quickly, the coverage of the system should be improved, the system construction should be optimized, and a market-oriented investment and operation system should be established.

High quality pension:

Pension services and industrial support are equally important

In addition to pensions, the availability of pension services and the support of the pension industry are also the focus of social concern.

One person loses his wits, the whole family is out of balance. At present, there are more than 40 million disabled and semi-disabled elderly people in China. With small families, empty nests, rapid urbanization and population mobility, more and more families are facing the problem of lack of caregivers.

"The elderly cannot take care of themselves at home and their children cannot accompany them all the time, so we need to build an environment for them to go to the community or institutions," said Dong. When it comes to one-to-one care, there is also a need to strengthen the community of care professionals, which also takes time."

Li Xiaopeng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of Everbright Group, said long-term care insurance is an important way to solve the problems of long-term care for the elderly who are old, disabled and mentally ill. He suggested that a unified social long-term care insurance system should be established as soon as possible to alleviate the problems of difficult and expensive old-age care.

"It is suggested to develop an independent financing channel for social long-term care insurance under the social security framework. Comprehensive mining of various levels of financial subsidies, unit payment, individual payment, social donations, charitable donations, lottery funding and other diversified financing channels." Li Xiaopeng suggested that insurance companies should be encouraged to handle social long-term care insurance business and gradually establish a multi-level care insurance system.

In the 2020 Report on the Work of the Government, "promoting the recovery of consumption" refers to the development of elderly care services. Dong Keyong believes that people's spiritual and cultural life needs show a trend of diversification, and the demand for old-age care is no longer limited to the passive old-age care when the material life is insufficient, but is gradually changing to the active "old age" to enrich the old life.

Feng Qiaobin, deputy head of the macroeconomic research department of the Development Research Center of The State Council, said that how to meet the needs of high-quality and diversified elderly care, from material to spiritual, is an unsolved task.

"Elderly care services can indirectly drive the development of industries such as building materials, old-age rehabilitation AIDS, intelligent facilities and equipment, catering, entertainment, medical care and old-age finance. "It is of positive significance to boost domestic demand, expand employment and actively respond to the aging population." "Said Zhou Yanfang, NPC deputy and deputy general manager of China Pacific Life Insurance's Shanghai branch.

According to Jia Kang, the pension industry should meet diversified needs, including both medium and high-end pension institutions and those suitable for low-income groups, supported by the government and supported by financial policies. For example, the government provides tax incentives to the land for the construction of nursing homes and nursing homes.

"It is not enough to rely only on pension institutions. Market players should be mobilized to provide diversified supplies." Especially for the post-80s generation, who are the backbone of society and are facing the problem of supporting their parents, they should also make preparations for their own retirement, using pension finance to play a role, Feng said.

As for the future of pension services and the industry, Dong said, "People in the 1950s and 1960s, the generation that benefited from the reform and opening up, were more receptive to the cost of pension services than their parents, both intellectually and financially. Generation after generation of thinking, cognition is changing when it comes to retirement."