The Early Retirement Decision and Its Impact on Health – What the Chinese Mandatory Retirement Reveals

Two striking worldwide phenomena over the past few decades are rapidly aging populations and a trend toward earlier retirement. Despite rising life expectancy, the average age of retirement has been declining (Bound, 2007, Blundell, Meghir and Smith, 2002). For example, from the 1950’s to 2000 the average retirement age for men in the United States declined from 68.5 to 62.6 years, and that for women declined from 67.9 to 62.5 years (Gendell, 2001). The average age of retirement in Canada in 2000 is about 61 years, and that in China is only 51.2 years. With the population aging rapidly and more individuals retiring at earlier ages, public health insurance and social security systems in many countries are increasingly stressed. It has been claimed that the US Social Security system will pay out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes by 2018 and that China’s current social security system