European Nations have to Rise Retirement Ages

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nakedcapitalism.com - European nations have no choice but to raise retirement ages our case study shows why
Citizens in EU states have been rebelling against social program cuts, like pension reforms. Are changes in the retirement age necessary?

Europe’s population is aging. The birth rate is declining. Life expectancy is growing ever longer. Fewer people are contributing to fund public systems that will have more people drawing money from them for longer periods of time. At the same time, technological disruption is reducing the share of labour income in gross domestic product.

Since most of Europe’s pay-as-you-go systems were designed when demographics were entirely different, they must be adjusted to reflect the current reality.

Pension reforms keep failing because the politics overrules the economics.

“Relax tj. The European nations will figure it out.”

I dunno they have been dithering for 3 1/2 years and counting.

June 7 2022:
politico.eu - Retirement dreams busted
Public pension systems are stretched thin by an aging demographic, but political bias prevents solutions from emerging.

The root cause is an aging population, characterized by fewer births and longer life expectancy. This increases the so-called old age dependency ratio, whereby a growing share of an ever-grayer population’s pension payments rests on a shrinking labor force.

In some countries, like Germany, that ratio is already high, at 40 percent. But by 2050, that ratio will be even more extreme, topping 75 percent in the cases of Italy, Spain and Greece. It’s projected to grow to above 50 percent in most EU countries, including in relatively rich places like the Nordics and the Netherlands.

9/16/2025
fortune.com - France retirees higher income workers american pensioners cost of living crisis
65-year-old retirees in France now have higher incomes than working-age adults

1970 to 2020-in France wages rose 100%, retirements benefits 160%

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