China will set a plan to raise the statutory retirement age in 2017 to relieve pressures from an aging population, an official researcher said.

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

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

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.

China's retirement age is 60 for men, 55 for female white-collar workers and 50 for female blue-collar employees.

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

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2016)