China plans to raise the statuary retirement age next year to relieve mounting pressure from an ageing population as the shrinking workforce has begun to bite the Communist giant's labour market and pension system, the state media reported.

"The plan is likely to be implemented in 2022 after a five-year transitional period," China Service quoted Jin Weigang, a researcher with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as saying.

The government is preparing to postpone the retirement age as a shrinking workforce has begun to bite into the country's labour market and pension system, the report said.

The population of people aged between 16 to 60 fell by 4.87 million to 911 million in 2015, the fourth consecutive year of decline, official data showed.

Retirement age in the world's second largest economy currently is 60 for men, 55 for women white-collar workers and 50 for female blue-collar employees.

Jin said the government could learn from flexible retirement policies in other countries.

China this year has reversed its three-and-half-decade-old one child policy to permit two children in a bid to address the demographic crisis resulting in labour shortages.

The one-childpolicy was changed as the China demographic crisis deepened with sharp rise in thepopulationof old agepopulation.

According to latest figures, the number of people aged 60 or over in China has reached 212 million at the end of 2014, accounting for 15.5 per cent of the country'spopulation, with the number of disabled elderly people approaching 40 million.

The UN has predicted that people over the age of 65 will account for 18 per cent of China'spopulationby 2030, double the number in 2011 which will have a negative bearing on China's labour availability.

By 2050, China is expected to have nearly 500 million people over 60, exceeding thepopulationof the US. The ageing population has brought greater demand for elderly care services.

According to a report published by Price Waterhouse Coopers earlier this month, Chinese will spend over USD 1.54 trillionfrom 2016 to 2020 on elderly care, increasing 17 per cent per year.