养老金

• Pinyin: yǎng lǎo jīn
• Hanzi breakdown: 养 = 羊 (sheep) + 食 (food — to nourish); 老 = pictographic (a bent elderly figure leaning on a staff); 金 = 人 (person) + 土 (earth under roof, originally depicting metal ore — precious metal, then money)

Meaning

Pension; retirement fund. Money paid regularly to a retired or elderly person, drawn from a pension system or accumulated personal savings.

A core concept in China's social security system. The basic pension (基本养老金) is administered by the state; enterprise annuities (企业年金) and personal pension accounts (个人养老金) supplement it. Ongoing policy debates revolve around pension fund gaps, the ageing population, and retirement age reform. A major concern for millions of urban and rural residents.

Examples

1. 随着人口老龄化程度不断加深，如何确保养老金的长期可持续支付成为政府制定社会保障政策时面临的核心挑战之一。 As population aging continues to deepen, ensuring the long-term sustainability of pension payments has become one of the central challenges the government faces when crafting social security policy.
2. 他在国有企业工作了三十五年，退休后每月可以领取一笔数额可观的养老金，足以维持体面的退休生活。 He worked at a state-owned enterprise for 35 years, and after retiring he receives a sizable monthly pension—enough to maintain a dignified retirement.
3. 近年来国家积极推进个人养老金制度建设，鼓励在职人员在基本养老保险之外为自己的晚年生活进行额外储备。 In recent years, the country has actively promoted the development of a personal pension system, encouraging working people to build additional savings for later life beyond basic pension insurance.

Usage Guide

Context: policy, finance, social welfare, retirement

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 按照现行制度规定，职工在达到法定退休年龄并累计缴纳养老保险满十五年后，方可按月申领基本养老金。(Under the current statutory provisions, employees may apply to receive the basic pension on a monthly basis only after reaching the statutory retirement age and having cumulatively contributed to the pension insurance for at least fifteen years.)
• 面对养老金缺口扩大的压力，部分省市已开始探索延迟退休方案，以期通过延长缴费年限来缓解基金收支不平衡的问题。(Faced with the pressure of a widening pension gap, some provinces and cities have begun exploring delayed retirement schemes, hoping to ease the imbalance between fund revenues and expenditures by extending the contribution period.)

Don't Say

• 领退休钱 — 养老金 is the standard and formal term; 退休钱 is overly colloquial and imprecise; in formal speech, administrative contexts, and financial planning always use 养老金 or 退休金

Origin & History

养老 (to support the elderly; to provide for old age) + 金 (gold/money — 人 person + 土 earth under a roof, originally precious metal; extended to mean money or a fund)

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: Middle-aged and older

Social background: Universal