Retirement age

This article lists the statutory retirement age in different countries. In some contexts, the retirement age is the age at which a person is expected or required to cease work. It is usually the age at which such a person may be entitled to receive superannuation or other government benefits, like a state pension.

History and establishment
The first recorded use of a state pension was established in the Roman Empire in 13 BC by Augustus for military veterans who had served for at least 16 years in a legion and four years in the reserves. This was later increased to 20 years in a legion and five years in the reserves. In the United States, states historically lack a retirement age even though labor force participation rates began to fall dramatically after the age of 60.

The first retirement age was set in Germany by Otto Von Bismarck in 1881, originally at 70, before being reduced to 65 in 1916. Following this, more countries began to adopt an official retirement age, such as Britain with the passage of the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, which set the initial retirement age at 70 before it being reduced to 65 for men and 60 for women with the passage of the National Insurance Act 1946.

The United States adopted an initial retirement age of 65, under the bill of the Social Security Act of 1935. By the mid-20th century, almost all countries had adopted a retirement age.

Political considerations
Policymakers usually consider the demography, fiscal cost of aging, health, life expectancy, nature of the profession, supply of labor force, and more, while taking the retirement age into account. The increase in life expectancy is used in some jurisdictions as an argument to increase the age of retirement in the 21st century.

Retirement age by country and region
Many of the countries listed in the table below are in the process of reforming retirement ages. The current trend in many countries is that the retirement age will increase gradually.

Many European Union member states apply a retirement age of 65 years in the 2020s. This is to be increased to 67 years in most countries by 2030.

In some countries, one's year of birth determines their age of retirement. For example, in the United States as of 2024, while a person born before 1955 can retire with social security benefits at the age of 66, those born after 1959 must be 67. Each year between 1955 and 1959 adds 2 months. Many countries in Europe follow the same type of criteria, with one's age of retirement determined by their birth year, for example in Romania, women born in 1955 had their retirement age in 2015 set at age 60 whereas those born in 1958 could retire in 2019 at age 61 and those born in 1961 can retire in January 2023 at age 62.

The average of statutory retirement age in the 34 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014 was males 65 years and females 63.5 years, but the tendency all over the world is to increase the retirement age. This is also reflected by the findings that just over half the Asian investors surveyed region-wide said they agreed with raising the retirement age, with a quarter disagreeing and the remainder undecided.

Reform
Reforms tend to be phased in slowly when the retirement age (or pension age) is increased with grandfathering, ensuring a gradual change. In contrast, when the age of retirement is decreased, changes are often brought about rapidly.

One of such examples of grandfathering is the transitional pension rules, which were applied for staff aged 54 years or older, and to some extent, for all staff in place, when in 2014, the retirement age of European civil servants was increased to 66 years of age.

Men retire either later than women or at the same time. This is being addressed in some countries, where the retirement ages are being equalized.