Global retirement and pensionable age comparative table
Authors: Ronelle Barreto and Rocio Carracedo Lopez
There are many aspects that contribute to the complexity of navigating employees' pension and retirement rights across the globe, such as anti-discrimination laws prohibiting age-based discrimination, global trends towards increasing the retirement age and abolishing mandatory retirement, flexible retirement options, and limitations placed on retirement-related contractual clauses.
Employees' pensionable and retirement age are both important for anticipating when the employee may leave their employment. This in turn may affect succession planning, talent retention management, retirement benefits, the management of future retirement costs, and strategies to promote age diversity and inclusion. In addition, understanding when employees may retire or reach their pensionable age helps global employers to comply with local pension legislation and address the varying retirement needs of their diverse workforce.
To ascertain an employee's retirement or pensionable age may depend on several factors, such as the employee's date of birth, pension contribution history and their residency status, and the terminology used in each country differs greatly. Additionally, some countries offer early retirement options or flexible retirement schemes that allow individuals to retire before reaching the official pensionable or retirement age. In certain countries, laws may provide for special rules on the retirement or pensionable age if the employee has worked under hazardous or unhealthy conditions. Further, it may be necessary to evaluate each case individually to consider any special requirements that allow an employee to retire under different circumstances.
The pensionable or retirement age (for men and women) for 34 different countries is set out in the table below. Please note that the table does not contain information for all the subscribed countries and territories in our International guides. We used certain criteria for comparison (eg an ascertainable age or age range) and these excluded countries did not easily meet our criteria: Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Spain, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic.
The information in this table is accurate as of 2 April 2024.
|
Country |
Pensionable/retirement age (women) |
Pensionable/retirement age (men) |
Additional information |
|
60 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
An employee may choose to work until the age of 70. For those employees who continue to work after reaching the retirement age, employers are only required to pay contributions to health insurance and work-related accident insurances. |
|
|
67 years social security system age pension |
67 years social security system age pension
|
Employees may access their superannuation savings (employer-sponsored retirement account) when they reach the age of 65 or when they reach "preservation age" and retire. The preservation age stands at 55 years for people before 1 July 1960, and rises in stages for younger people to a maximum of 60 years for those born after 1 July 1964. |
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|
|
60 years old-age pension |
65 years old-age pension |
For women, the pensionable age will increase by six months a year from 2024 until it reaches 65 in 2033. |
|
65 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
The legal pensionable age will increase to 66 years for both men and women from 1 January 2025 and 67 years from 1 January 2030. |
|
|
62 years 2 months state old-age pension |
64 years 7 months state old-age pension |
The pensionable age continues to increase annually by two months for women until 31 December 2029, and by three months from 1 January 2030 until the age of 65 is reached in 2037; and one month for men until the age of 65 is reached in 2029. |
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|
Canada (federal) |
65 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
Although the standard age is 65, in some cases employees can start receiving their retirement pension as early as 60 years old. |
|
60 years retirement age |
65 years retirement age |
On reaching retirement age, the individual may use the amount accumulated in their individual pension account (administrador de fondo de pension, AFP) to provide a retirement income. Early retirement is possible where the individual has sufficient funds in their account to provide a pension above a specified minimum level. |
|
|
55 years retirement age for managerial posts |
60 years retirement age |
The statutory retirement ages that apply across the country are 60 years old for men and 55 years old for women in managerial posts. The retirement age is 50 years old for women in non-managerial and non-professional posts. |
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|
65 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
All citizens and foreign nationals meeting residency conditions, who are over the age of 65 years, are entitled to a flat-rate basic state old-age pension financed from taxation. This age is projected to increase to 68 in the next few years. |
|
|
63-70 years statutory earnings-related scheme depending on the year of birth. |
63-70 years statutory earnings-related scheme depending on the year of birth. |
Under the statutory, earnings-related occupational scheme, employees may retire between the ages of 63 and 70 years. The minimum pension age rises by three months per year of birth starting with those born in 1955, whose minimum pension age is 63 years and three months. Employees born in 1962 have a pensionable age of 65. The upper age limit for the old-age pension is five years higher than the employee's minimum pensionable age. |
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62-64 years state old-age pension depending on the date of birth. |
62-64 years state old-age pension depending on the date of birth. |
The minimum age at which employees become entitled to a full state old-age pension under the general social security scheme depends on their date of birth. It stands at 62 years for those born before 1 September 1961 and 62 years and three months for those born from 1 September to 31 December 1961. For those born in 1962, it stands at 62 years and six months. The minimum age then increases by three months for each year of birth until it reaches a maximum of 64 years for those born in 1968 or later. |
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|
67 years statutory pensionable age |
67 years statutory pensionable age |
The statutory pensionable age is 67 years. However, for those individuals born prior to 1964, there are incremental stages of retirement up to the age of 67. For example, individuals born in 1963 can retire at the age of 66 years and 10 months, while those individuals born in 1947 can retire at the age of 65 years and one month. Individuals who were born prior to 1946 can retire at the age of 65. |
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62-67 years state pension depending on contribution record
|
62-67 years state pension depending on contribution record
|
The pensionable age is 67 with at least 4,500 days of contributions (equivalent to 15 years). Insured people with a contribution record of 12,000 working days (40 years) can retire with a full pension benefit at the age of 62. |
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|
65 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
From 2020, the state pensionable age has risen incrementally for persons born on or after 1 January 1955 to a maximum of 70 years for persons born on or after 1 March 1979. |
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|
62-65 years state old-age pension depending on the year of birth |
62-65 years state old-age pension depending on the year of birth |
A full old-age pension under the social insurance scheme is generally payable when an employee reaches the legal retirement age and has completed at least 20 years of employment (including other periods assimilated as employment for these purposes). |
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58-60 years retirement age
|
58-60 years retirement age
|
There is no general social-security-based public pension system, except a limited national old-age pension scheme. In the private sector, the retirement age depends on the individual company. The retirement age for employees is generally set in their employment contract/letter of appointment, or in the employer's standing orders or an applicable collective agreement or conciliation award/settlement. The retirement age is generally set at around 58 to 60 years. |
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58 years retirement age
|
58 years retirement age
|
From 1 January 2022, the retirement age will rise by an additional year every three years until the retirement age reaches 65 in 2043. An "old-age security" insurance, based on mandatory employer and employee contributions is payable when the employee reaches the age of 56 or suffers a permanent disability, emigrates, or dies. |
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66 years state pension (contributory) |
66 years state pension (contributory) |
Individuals may claim the state pension (contributory) when they reach the age of 66 years if they have made sufficient Pay-Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions and started making contributions before the age of 56 years. They may defer claiming their pension until as late as the age of 70 so that they may make further PRSI contributions and thereby qualify to claim a pension or become entitled to receive a higher-rate pension. |
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|
67 years state retirement pension |
67 years state retirement pension |
The statutory retirement age is 67 years, with a minimum of 20 years of contributions. Regardless of age, employees are eligible to retire early and receive a state retirement pension as long as they have paid a minimum number of years of social security contributions. |
|
|
65 years national old-age pension |
65 years national old-age pension |
There are two public pension schemes: the basic National Pension scheme and the earnings-related Employees' Pension Insurance (EPI) scheme. The National Pension scheme provides a flat-rate old-age pension for all residents of Japan when they reach the age of 65. The EPI scheme provides an additional pension for people who have been in employment. The pension may be claimed at the age of 60 years. The minimum age to receive this pension is being increased gradually to reach 65 years, by 2025 for men and 2030 for women. |
|
|
65 years state old-age pension |
65 years state old-age pension |
There is no mandatory retirement age. The state pension is generally payable from the age of 65, although this depends on each individual. This general pension age will increase gradually until it reaches age 67 in 2031. Individuals can claim a reduced pension at any time between the ages of 63 and 65. Women who joined the social security scheme before 1975 may be able to claim a pension from the age of 60. |
|
|
65 years old-age pension |
65 years old-age pension |
The National Pension Insurance Fund old-age pension is generally payable to individuals aged 65 and who have made at least 120 months of contributions. In some circumstances, the pension is payable from the age of 57 or 60 if the individual has made at least 480 months of contributions. |
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|
67 years state pensionable age |
67 years state pensionable age |
In 2024 the state pensionable age is 67 years for individuals born after 28 February 1957 and before 1 January 1958. The state pensionable age is expected to increase to 67 years and 3 months in 2028. |
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67 years statutory retirement age
|
67 years statutory retirement age
|
An employer may not dismiss an employee under the age of 72 on the grounds that the employee has reached, or is over, the statutory retirement age of 67. However, when employees reach the age of 72, they may be dismissed or resign with the proper notice. Employers may set a lower retirement age, but not lower than 70 years, but certain rules apply. Individuals can receive retirement pension no earlier than the age of 62 years (earliest pensionable age). To receive a retirement pension before the age of 67, certain pension accrual requirements apply. |
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60 or 65 years old-age retirement benefit |
60 or 65 years old-age retirement benefit |
A retirement pension is available to insured individuals who have paid at least 120 months of contributions and have reached the age of 65, whether or not they are in employment; and insured individuals who have paid at least 120 months of contributions, have reached the age of 60 and are unemployed. |
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|
60 years retirement age |
65 years retirement age |
From 2013, the retirement age for men and women had been rising gradually with the aim of reaching 67 for both genders. However, from 1 October 2017, the retirement age was lowered to 65 for men, and 60 for women. Employees are eligible to apply for a state pension when they reach the retirement age. |
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|
62 years 2 months retirement age |
65 years retirement age |
The retirement age for women will increase gradually to 63 years by January 2030. Pension law reforms that come into full effect in September 2024 will further raise the retirement age for women to 65 years, with this increase taking place gradually until January 2035. |
|
|
60 years retirement age |
60 years retirement age |
The retirement age may be reduced if the employer's work organisation regulations provide for an early retirement scheme. |
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62-63 years retirement age depending on year of birth. |
62-63 years retirement age depending on year of birth. |
The retirement age and the re-employment age can be found here. Employers must offer re-employment to eligible employees who turn 63, up to age 68, to continue their employment in the organisation. On 4 March 2024, it was announced that the retirement age will be raised to 64 years and the re-employment age will be raised to 69 years in 2026. |
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|
60 years state retirement grant |
60 years state retirement grant |
There is no general or normal retirement age applicable to all employees. Retirement age is normally determined with reference to the employee's contract of employment or the employer's policies and practices. The state retirement pension system consists of a means-tested, non-contributory "grant for older persons", payable from the age of 60. |
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|
64 years retirement age |
65 years retirement age |
The retirement age for women will increase by three months per year from 2025 until reaching 65 in 2028. |
|
|
58-61 years old-age pension depending on contributions |
60-63 years old-age pension depending on contributions |
The pensionable age will gradually increase to 65 for both women and men. Employees may continue to work after reaching pensionable age and claim their SGK pension at a later date. |
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50-55 years pensionable age depending on date of registration |
50-55 years pensionable age depending on date of registration |
There is no statutory retirement age. However, existing UAE national employees or those who registered with the pension authority prior to 31 October 2023 may retire and "draw down" on their pension once they reach the age of 50 and subject to a minimum of 20 years of service. UAE nationals who have registered for the first time starting from 31 October 2023, have the right to retire and draw down their pension once they reach the age of 55, having completed 30 years of experience. |
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|
66 years state pension age |
66 years state pension age |
Increases to the state pension age of 67 and then 68 are planned. There is no general "default" retirement age at which employers may require employees to retire and employees are in most cases free to choose when to retire. An employee's retirement is not a potentially fair reason for their dismissal but may, depending on the circumstances, be held to be "some other substantial reason" capable of justifying dismissal. |
