Retirement at age 70 – soon to be a reality in these countries

The OECD’s Retirement Report shows in which countries retirement at age 70 will become a reality for the longest time.

Frankfurt – tie curiosity is a hot topic in Germany. Stefan Wolff, head of the Gesamtmetall employers’ association, said at the end of July that many consider it inevitable: “We have to gradually retire until the age of 70 – and the age continues to rise,” Wolf told the Funke media group.

While this level of retirement age is not the bleak dystopia of the future, people are outraged, but some countries are already adapting.

Retirement at 70: The current German retirement age

Retirement at 70 separates the leads. In business, a higher retirement age has long been recommended. Economists such as Alex Börsch-Supan have long argued that pensions should be linked to increased life expectancy. In Business week He talks about revising the retirement age by more than a year, every twelve to 15 years. However, retirement at age 70 may be further away than expected.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) however categorically rejects the idea. “We have agreed in coalition that we will not raise the statutory retirement age. “Nothing will change about that,” the Labor Minister told the Funke media group. The retirement age in Germany, 67, is already on the high side from an international perspective, says Heil. .

According to the OECD’s Retirement Report, this Viewpoint Available, the legal entry age for Germans was 65.7 years last year – compared to other OECD industrialized countries, Germany is in the top quartile. So far, Iceland, Norway and Israel have led the way in terms of retirement age at 67.

Retirement at age 70: In Europe, people often retire before the legal age limit

Hence, the recommended entry age and the actual entry into retirement often deviate from each other. According to an OECD study, the Japanese retire at an average age of 68.2. Legally and without exemptions, this is actually possible at age 65.

The Nine Biggest Myths About Retirement

Myth 4: You can only get pension after you have worked for at least 15 years. That is wrong. The minimum insurance period for fixed old age pension is five years.

Myth 5: You can earn unlimited money with your pension. That is not true because there is already a limit. Anyone who has retired early or is unable to work can earn up to €6,300. If you earn too much, you may lose some or all of your pension rights.

Myth 6: After 45 years, you can retire at 63. That is only partly true. Anyone who has been insured for a particularly long time, around 45 years, can usually retire earlier. However, the entry age moves backwards depending on the year of birth.

Myth 7: Widow’s pension is available only to women. Either way, this is a mistake. Since 1986, both women and men have equal rights in the pension insurance system.

Myth 8: The amount of pension is mainly made up of last year’s work. That too is wrong. The pension amount is calculated from the entire insured life.

Myth 9: Long-term carers have less pension rights. That is not true. After all, there is a demand for employees on parental leave, even if they work less or don’t work for a while.

In Europe it is the opposite. People there leave the labor market before they reach the legal retirement age. According to the OECD, men and women in France retire on average three years earlier. The statutory retirement age there is 63.5 years. At 63.1 years of age, German employees also retire earlier than stipulated by law. Here’s how to retire early without deductions.

Pension: In these states, the future retirement age is already above 70 years

While in Germany, retirement at age 70 is often met with anger and resentment, other countries have already accepted their fate. A look at OECD statistics reveals that almost all member countries expect to increase the retirement age in the near future. This is especially true in Turkey. In future, men will not be able to retire without deduction after 13 years. Currently, the Turkish retirement age is 52 years. This may seem relatively low, but people in Turkey are the hardest working workers in Europe at 48.3 hours per week.

*Future retirement age: Applies to those who entered the labor market at age 22 in 2020.

In Estonia or Italy, the future retirement age will be 71. For Italy, the age limit should be raised to nine years. According to the OECD, Denmark is increasing by 8.5 years and only allows pensions without exemption from the age of 74 for the longest period.

Retirement at age 70: A response to demographic change

The future retirement age will not come into effect suddenly, but will apply to those who entered the labor market at the age of 22 in 2020. But the pension system is in an imbalance: fewer and fewer people in work need to fund more pensioners.

Demographic structures presented in the OECD Pensions Report already predict the problems of aging societies. By 2060, the working-age population in OECD countries will decline by an average of ten percent. Countries such as Greece, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have 35 percent or even more. Like Germany, these countries must ask themselves how they will close this gap in the labor market in the future. In Germany, pension solutions are already being considered. But so far the answer is probably a longer working life. (a)