The China Mail - Danes reluctant to embrace retirement at 70

USD -
AED 3.673045
AFN 68.49682
ALL 83.64994
AMD 383.740144
ANG 1.789623
AOA 917.000361
ARS 1255.739401
AUD 1.520959
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.704301
BAM 1.668636
BBD 2.020399
BDT 121.679557
BGN 1.673899
BHD 0.376976
BIF 2981.413623
BMD 1
BND 1.279674
BOB 6.939711
BRL 5.5327
BSD 1.000601
BTN 85.690153
BWP 13.33339
BYN 3.274649
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009991
CAD 1.37025
CDF 2886.000247
CHF 0.797028
CLF 0.024758
CLP 950.059729
CNY 7.175299
CNH 7.17004
COP 4015.7
CRC 504.651927
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 94.750167
CZK 21.10104
DJF 177.720159
DKK 6.386102
DOP 60.202517
DZD 130.038472
EGP 49.515298
ERN 15
ETB 135.375011
EUR 0.85589
FJD 2.24275
FKP 0.73704
GBP 0.73871
GEL 2.709637
GGP 0.73704
GHS 10.376658
GIP 0.73704
GMD 71.49428
GNF 8656.000294
GTQ 7.68709
GYD 209.351631
HKD 7.84995
HNL 26.349777
HRK 6.449398
HTG 131.286287
HUF 342.079996
IDR 16223.05
ILS 3.32944
IMP 0.73704
INR 85.894401
IQD 1310
IRR 42112.502199
ISK 122.22018
JEP 0.73704
JMD 159.910246
JOD 0.709023
JPY 146.969496
KES 129.196439
KGS 87.449944
KHR 4021.000146
KMF 421.491881
KPW 900.033937
KRW 1375.405008
KWD 0.30574
KYD 0.833891
KZT 519.10468
LAK 21530.000004
LBP 89600.000341
LKR 300.589969
LRD 201.000084
LSL 17.729772
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.395013
MAD 9.002498
MDL 16.930368
MGA 4429.999842
MKD 52.640584
MMK 2098.907476
MNT 3587.604945
MOP 8.090897
MRU 39.726387
MUR 45.460329
MVR 15.39797
MWK 1736.502126
MXN 18.68699
MYR 4.2545
MZN 63.960429
NAD 17.730205
NGN 1530.319572
NIO 36.749906
NOK 10.12807
NPR 137.104074
NZD 1.663063
OMR 0.384522
PAB 1.000601
PEN 3.54598
PGK 4.12475
PHP 56.484499
PKR 284.495339
PLN 3.64402
PYG 7755.344063
QAR 3.640603
RON 4.348204
RSD 100.262994
RUB 77.798299
RWF 1434
SAR 3.750391
SBD 8.326487
SCR 14.678962
SDG 600.500915
SEK 9.53308
SGD 1.280785
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.495865
SLL 20969.503664
SOS 571.495602
SRD 37.368007
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.755263
SYP 13001.953619
SZL 17.729861
THB 32.517967
TJS 9.681127
TMT 3.51
TND 2.900997
TOP 2.342097
TRY 40.173955
TTD 6.794671
TWD 29.237017
TZS 2630.000275
UAH 41.880479
UGX 3585.88681
UYU 40.653701
UZS 12662.503321
VES 113.437985
VND 26111.5
VUV 119.767188
WST 2.749534
XAF 559.644909
XAG 0.026681
XAU 0.0003
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.695413
XOF 558.000117
XPF 102.301579
YER 241.849612
ZAR 17.84618
ZMK 9001.198985
ZMW 23.44008
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Danes reluctant to embrace retirement at 70
Danes reluctant to embrace retirement at 70 / Photo: © Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/File

Danes reluctant to embrace retirement at 70

On paper, Kirsten Evans is among the first group of Danes who have to wait until age 70 to retire with a full pension, but she has no intention of waiting that long.

Text size:

Denmark's parliament in May adopted a law raising the retirement age to 70 by 2040, from the current age of 67.

But Evans, a 53-year-old bank employee with a solid financial footing, said she plans to retire around 65 or 66 -- even if it means she won't earn a full pension.

"I think 70 is old," she told AFP. "You want to benefit on the other end and still have a good life afterwards," she said.

As many Western countries grapple with how to stretch pensions to cover ageing populations, Denmark indexed the official retirement age to life expectancy in 2006 and has revised it every five years.

In 2030, the retirement age will increase to 68 and in 2035, it will rise to 69.

But those born after December 31, 1970 -- including Evans -- will have to wait until age 70.

- Widening gap -

Few people actually work to the legal retirement age in Denmark.

In 2022, when the official retirement age was 67, the actual average retirement age was around 64, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

About 20 percent of retirees in Denmark retire because they can't find a job or are too sick to continue, according to Aske Juul Lassen, an ethnologist at the University of Copenhagen who specialises in senior working life.

"For those 20 percent, it makes a big difference whether the retirement age rises again," he said, stressing that "inequities are rising with age".

The gap risks widening between those able to retire early thanks to strong finances and others, said Damoun Ashournia, chief economist at the Danish Trade Union Confederation.

"Very few people actually retire at the official retirement age. But that is not an opportunity our members have," Ashournia said.

Camilla Rasmussen, a 37-year-old union member who works as a gastroenterology nurse at a Copenhagen hospital, is convinced that she will not be physically able to work until age 70.

"That would be really hard for me, walking 10,000 steps every day," she said.

"If I'm here when I'm 70, I think it's not fair for the patients," she added.

"Already today, we see that two-thirds of our members have retired prior to the official retirement age. And that's due to them being worn out and doing hard physical work," Ashournia said.

- System review -

Denmark's pension system is made up of several parts. There is a universal public pension, currently set at 7,198 kroner ($1,130) per month, plus two complementary employer-funded pensions invested in pension funds—one mandatory and one optional.

Finally, some people also save money privately for retirement.

Ashournia said he believed that raising the retirement age to 70 was the only way to finance Denmark's cradle-to-grave welfare state.

"As the population ages and life expectancy increases, if we want to deliver the same public services we do today, we need to secure public finances," he said.

However, he criticized the automatic five-year increases in the retirement age, a practice in place since 2006.

Under these rules, the retirement age in 2070 will be 74.

For Erik Simonsen, deputy head of the Confederation of Danish Employers, this is the only way forward.

"It would be the most intelligent way to go on, to keep the system. So the older we get, then we have to work a little bit more," Simonsen said.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, 47, has said she believes a review of the system will be needed once the retirement age hits 70.

"We no longer believe that the retirement age should be increased automatically," she told daily Berlingske in August 2024.

In line with a review by a government-appointed working group, the Danish Trade Union Confederation said it would like to see a slowdown in the rate of increases.

"In the future, we can raise it by only half a year for every year that life expectancy increases," said Ashournia.

Z.Ma--ThChM