Denmark Raises Retirement Age to 70

Denmark is set to have the highest retirement age in Europe after its parliament adopted a law raising it to 70 by 2040.

Since 2006, Denmark has tied the official retirement age to life expectancy and has revised it every five years. It is currently 67 but will rise to 68 in 2030 and to 69 in 2035.

The retirement age at 70 will apply to all people born after 31 December 1970.

The new law passed on Thursday with 81 votes for and 21 votes against.

However, last year Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the sliding scale principle would eventually be renegotiated.

"We no longer believe that the retirement age should be increased automatically," she said, adding that in her party's eyes "you can't just keep saying that people have to work a year longer".

Tommas Jensen, a 47-year-old roofer, told Danish media that the change was "unreasonable".

"We're working and working and working, but we can't keep going," he said.

He added that the situation may be different for those with desk jobs but that blue-collar workers with physically demanding professions would find the changes difficult.

"I've paid my taxes all my life. There should also be time to be with children and grandchildren," Mr Jensen told outlet DK.

Protests backed by trade unions against the retirement age increase took place in Copenhagen over the last few weeks.

Ahead of Thursday's vote, Jesper Ettrup Rasmussen, the chairman of a Danish trade union confederation, said the proposal to increase the retirement age was "completely unfair".

"Denmark has a healthy economy and yet the EU's highest retirement age," he said.

"A higher retirement age means that [people will] lose the right to a dignified senior life."

Retirement ages around Europe vary. Many governments have raised the retirement age in recent years to reflect longer life expectancy and to tackle budget deficits.

In Sweden, the earliest age individuals can start to claim pension benefits is 63.

The standard pension age in Italy is 67, although as in the case of Denmark, this is also subject to adjustments based on life expectancy estimates and may increase in 2026.

In the UK, people born between 6 October, 1954 and 5 April, 1960 start receiving their pension at the age of 66. But for people born after this date, the state pension age will increase gradually.

And in France, a law was passed in 2023 that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. The highly unpopular change sparked protests and riots and had to be pushed through parliament by President Emmanuel Macron without a vote.