Social security reform: Does partial privatization make sense for China?

By the year 2025, one quarter of the world's population over age 60 will be living in China, a nation in the process of partially privatizing its social security system. This article presents a brief history of social security policy in China, describes the current scheme, presents an analysis of the pros and cons of this scheme, and asks why China is currently on the road to adopting policy changes that are so strongly influenced by the neoliberal social security model being advanced by the World Bank. Social security policy in China is being driven largely by demographic considerations, but it is also being influenced by factors linked to globalization. The plan to partially privatize the nation's social security system will put at risk many vulnerable categories of the population, particularly women, low-wage workers, those in the informal sector, and recent immigrants from rural areas.