BEIJING - China has approved the country's third group of pension target funds, allowing 14 more such funds to play a bigger role in meeting the retirement planning needs of an aging population.

E-Fund Management, an asset management company based in Guangzhou, obtained approvals for issuing two more such funds while 13 other fund management firms including China Southern Asset Management and China Asset Management were authorized to issue one more each, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The new round of approval brought the number of authorized pension target funds to 40.

Pension target funds are mutual funds that encourage long-term holding by investors, adopt mature asset allocation strategies and control the risk of volatility to seek long-term, stable returns on retirement savings.

Currently, China's retirement plans mostly rely on state- and corporate-sponsored programs. The country is looking to develop pension target funds, part of individual retirement plans, to complement the system amid pressure from the aging society.

The number of people aged 60 or above reached 241 million in China at the end of 2017, accounting for 17.3 percent of the total population. The number is expected to peak at 487 million in 2050, accounting for a third of the total population, according to the Office of the National Working Commission on Aging.