This article appears in Demographic Transition and its Consequences, Ronald D. Lee and David Reher, eds., Supplement to vol. 37 of Population and Development Review, The Population Council, New York, 2011

As quoted by Palacios and Whitehouse, there are separate pension schemes for civil servants in about half the world’s countries. This includes the People’s Republic of China. In some countries pension costs for public sector employees form a disproportionately large part of the total pension...