Chinese people saving earlier for retirement, survey says

(ECNS) -- Chinese workers feel increasing pressure to plan for retirement, starting retirement savings 14 years earlier than their previous generation, according to a HSBC survey.

In this context, previous generation refers to people already retired, who began saving for life after work at an average age of 46 years old, nine years before the retirement age of 55, the survey said.

Those still at work are not so lucky. The survey showed that today the average age to start saving is 33. What's more, most will work till they are 56 years old. They will spend 23 years saving for retirement, 14 years more than the previous generation, the survey said.

However, globally, people start their retirement savings 30 years in advance on average, according to HSBC figures. In the United Kingdom and Australia, 37 years is needed, and in the United States and France, it's 35 years.

In China, working people have more choices about how to financially manage their retirement than the previous generation, who are mostly depending on pensions. Thirty-one percent of people at work said they could use their insurance and enterprise annuity funds to support their life after retirement, and 28 percent said they could continue working.

However, more than 30 percent of people in their 30s and 40s said they had not begun their retirement savings, the survey said. Forty percent of people said they have had to suspend their savings, as they must provide economic support to their children and parents.