Household consumption’s share of economic output in China is already one of the lowest in the world, while many provincial governments - responsible for pensions and elderly care - are deep in debt as a result of decades of credit-fuelled investment-driven growth.

“China’s age structure change will slow down economic growth,” said Xiujian Peng, senior research fellow at the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) at Victoria University in Melbourne.

In the next 10 years, about 300 million people currently aged 50 to 60 - China’s largest demographic group, equivalent to almost the entire U.S. population - are set to leave the workforce at a time when pension budgets are already stretched.