People in Taiwan are retiring younger, according to a report reaching Hong Kong from Taipei on Monday.

Statistics released by the Taiwan authorities shows that employees in the industrial and service sectors in Taiwan who applied to retire in 2004 were 54.9 years old on average, lower than the 55.7 a year ago.

The report was published after nearly six months of compiling and analyzing data gathered from a survey on retirement conducted in March among employees from over 9,000 companies.

The survey showed that about 63,000 people retired from work in the industrial and service sectors last year.

Some 32 percent of the retirees were over 60, down from the 74.12 percent in 1991, while 51.73 percent of those who retired in 2004 were between 50 and 59, posing a significant rise in comparison with the level of 21.77 percent in 1991.

The 50 to 59 age group made up the bulk of retirees in the industrial and service sectors, the report said, noting there were more people aged 40 to 49 choosing to retire, with 15.19 percent of the 2004 retirees in this age group, up from the 10.55 percent a year ago.

The report attributed the trend to an increase of corporate mergers in recent years. Many of these companies offer preferential deals to encourage workers to retire.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)