Executive Summary
Global pension systems are under pressure as populations get older and life expectancy rises. This research examines current retirement ages, planned adjustments, communication challenges, and best practices worldwide. Key findings include:
- Life‑expectancy link: Countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Italy have embedded automatic retirement‑age increases tied to life expectancy.
- Public backlash: France and the UK faced strikes and legal challenges after abrupt pension‑age changes (France’s change to age 64 in 2023; UK’s “WASPI” women campaigning against the way in which a change from age 60 to age 65 was communciated).
- High‑age clusters: Several nations now target ages ≥67, with Denmark projecting 74 by 2070 and Sweden 70+ by 2070. (This would be for individuals born after year 2000)
- Lower‑age groups: Major economies including China, India, and Brazil retain ages ≤65, though reforms are under discussion.
- Gender disparities: A small set of countries (e.g. Austria, Switzerland, Israel) still maintain lower pension ages for women. Austria and Switzerland have plans to equalize within the next decade.
- Emerging challengers: Smaller states such as Mauritius, Uruguay, Eastern European countries plan steep increases (up to +5 years) over short periods.
1. Retirement Ages Linked to Life Expectancy
Countries are implementing a variety of measures to increase retirement ages due to increased life expectancy (nationally calculated by the government). Some use publicly disclosed formulas, whereas others have a general policy to review ages every 5 years or so.
Denmark: Retirement age will rise from 67 (2025) to 70 by 2040 and potentially 74 by 2060, based on cohort life‑expectancy projections. Unions highlight concerns for manual‑labor cohorts.
Netherlands: From 67 in 2025, automatically indexed to average life expectancy. The Dutch approach phases increases gradually, balancing fiscal sustainability with social equity.
Italy & Sweden: Both apply one‑to‑one indexing: each additional year in life expectancy adding several months to the state pension age. Italy targets 67 in 2025, projected to rise to ~71 by 2060.
Norway & Finland: Flexible models permit retirement between 62–75, with actuarial adjustments linked to life expectancy. Finland’s national pension age will adjust by ~8 months for each year of increased longevity.
Portugal, Greece, Slovakia: Established annual review committees to implement annual or biennial retirement age increases, often linked to a formula linked to changes in life expectancy
2. Communication Failures and Public Backlash
Poor communication can cause public backlashes against retirement age increases. Announcements to change future retirement ages can also backfire especially if younger citizens are not reminded that their actual retirement age could be somewhat higher than current retirement ages.
This is especially the case if future or potential retirement age increases are not allowed for in pension plan projections or benefit statements.
France: Strikes and Renegotiation
President Macron’s 2023 reform raised the age from 62 to 64, triggering nationwide strikes with over 1.2 million protesters. Policy makers are now proposing a further change to age 66, and the new Prime Minister Francois Beyrou is working to make changes to the 2023 reforms This experience in France underscores the need for phased implementation and stakeholder dialogue.
United Kingdom: The WASPI Dispute
Women born between 1950 and 1955 claimed their state pension age shift abruptly from 60 to 66 (2010–2018) with inadequate notice. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman confirmed maladministration. Proposed compensation proposals (between £1,000 and £2,900) have been rejected by the government, remain politically contentious, and illustrating the risks of claims for poor communications and lack of notice.
3. Economies with a current or future retirement age of 67 or more
Several countries now have a retirement age which is currently at or above age 67 and in several cases are expected to reach age 70. Retirement age increases are normally phased in, communicated well in advance and implemented alongside other labour forms to help with employment of older people or to allow those in demanding industries to still retire early.
4. Major economies still with a normal retirement age at or below 65
- Canada: Standard age 65; optional deferral to 70 for pension enhancement.
- Japan: Official age 65; close to full employment, many extend work to 70+.
- China: Age 60 (men), 50–55 (women); announcement in 2025 that retirement ages will increase by 3 years (5 years for some women) by 2039
- India: Typical private‑sector pension age 58–60; public sector generally age 60; varies; no plans to raise the retirement age (the government has recently ruled out a change to age 62).
- Brazil: Post‑2019 reform set ages at 65 (men) / 62 (women); further adjustments remain politically sensitive.
- Singapore: Retirement age 63,; plan to reach 65 by 2030 with re-employment age increasing to age 70.
According to the OECD, countries in this cluster face rising old‑age dependency ratios without indexed mechanisms, increasing fiscal pressures.
5. Gender Disparities
The ILO and World Bank has recommended gender‑neutral retirement ages to ensure equity and simplify administration.
While most OECD countries have equalised ages, a few maintain lower ages for women:
- Israel: Women retire at 62 vs 67 for men.
- Switzerland: Currently 64 for women, 65 for men; equalisation by 2028.
- Austria, Czech Republic, Lithuania: Phased equalisation plans or proposals.
As shown in Chart 1, some other gender retirement age gaps still persist in OECD countries, but these are being phased out in most OECD countries except in Colombia, Costa Rica, Hungary, Israel, Poland and Türkiye.
Chart 1: Gender Gap in current and future retirement ages
Source: OECD, Pensions at a Glance 2023
Gender gaps still persist in many non-OECD countries including Brazil, Argentina and China, but not in some of the world’s most populous nations including India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Philippines.
6. Other countries implementing Increases
Other countries are also increasing, or proposing to increase, retirement ages in order to reduce pension funding shortfalls, reduce the cost of state pensions, improve pension adequacy and to align male and female retirement ages. Changes are often implemented as part of broader fiscal and labour reforms.
- Mauritius: Recently announced a proposal to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65 in 2029 to address pension financing deficits
- Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Uzbekistan: Bringing male and females retirement ages to 65, in line with IMF recommendations.
- Kazakhstan, Armenia: Aligning retirement ages at age 63, with no official proposals to increase further
When retirement ages are increased, countries must also address the issue of labour force participation by older workers and provide safety nets for those not able to work to a higher age. Such rapid shifts may require robust social safety nets and vocational retraining for older workers. We plan to discuss this in another article.
Conclusion
Retirement ages have been increasing and continue to do so. Chart 2 shows retirement ages across OECD and EU countries. Across the OECD, the average retirement age was 64.4 for men and 63.3 for women in 2022. Over the next forty years, retirement ages are expected to increase to an average of 66.3 for men and 65.8 for women (based on the expected retirement age for an individual born in 2000 entering the labour force at age 22).
Chart 2: Current and future normal retirement ages for a man with a full career from age 22
Note: Current retirement age is the age for those retiring in 2022; future retirement age is for those entering the labour market in 2022. For better visibility, the scale of this chart excludes the lowest observed values of of 52 for current in Türkiye and 47 for both current and future in Saudi Arabia. Credits for educational periods are not included.
Source: OECD Pensions at a Glance 2023 based on information provided by countries; see “Country Profiles” available at http://oe.cd/pag.
Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Estonia and Sweden are the five countries leading the way with expected future retirement ages of age 70 or older. Australia, Germany, UK, USA are a little further behind with planned future retirement ages of 67. But they remain ahead of Canada, Spain, Switzerland, France, Korea, Czechia and Japan whose retirement ages are not yet expected to go past age 65.
Some gender retirement age gaps still persist, but these are being phased out in most OECD countries except in Colombia, Costa Rica, Hungary, Israel, Poland and Türkiye. Gender gaps persist in many non-OECD countries including Brazil, Argentina and China, but not in some of the world’s most populous nations including India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Philippines .
Ageing societies must extend retirement ages to ensure fiscal sustainability, social equity, and intergenerational fairness. Transparent, formula‑based indexing linked to life expectancy—backed by strong communication and labour‑market support—is one hallmark of successful reform. Careful communication is important. As UK and France have found well-intended policy measures can meet with opposition.
As people live longer, increases to retirement age are happening globally. For many larger economies and the European Union as a whole, age 67 has already become the new age 65; and for younger workers age 70 could become the new age 67.
Increased retirement age brings challenges for policy makers in relation to labour force participation by older workers, especially those in ill-health or have worked in demanding professions. Measures are needed to help people receive income if they are not yet at retirement age but are not able to work or want to retire early. Falling fertility rates put further pressure on the sustainability of pension systems, with the ratio of workers to retirees expected to increase in future years. The need to do something about retirement age is important in all nations in order for a society and its individuals to thrive. The challenge is to do this as fairly as possible, dependent on the country, culture, and economy an individual has been born into. If decided wisely, this will enable a sustainable and happier older life.