The Promise of a Better Tomorrow: China's Pension System
September 02, 2004 | BY
clpstaff &clp articlesPension reform in China has been high on the government's agenda for many years. Issues such as providing for an aging population and generating the institutional capital that can be reinvested in the economy will be discussed in this feature.
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By Ying White, World Bank, Washington DC
In developed countries, both public and private sector pension funds are major participants in the capital markets. In the US, for example, pension assets stood at $12 trillion by year-end 2003, and accounted for 20% of stock market capitalization.1 In Japan, the combined assets of public pension reserves and employee pension insurance programmes totalled 170 trillion yen by March 2003.2 In the last few years, pension assets have accounted for over 100% of GDP in the US and around 34% in Japan.