The normal retirement age across the European Union is projected to increase by approximately two years for men and 2.6 years for women between now and the late 2060s, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pensions at a Glance 2025 report — a development that reflects the mounting demographic and fiscal pressures bearing down on state pension systems throughout the continent. Around two-thirds of European countries are expected to raise the retirement age for men, and three-quarters for women, with the comparison drawn between those retiring in 2024 and those who entered the labour market at age 22 that year and would, assuming an uninterrupted career, retire in the late 2060s.
The OECD report frames rising retirement ages as the most politically tractable of the available correctives, noting that “increasing retirement ages remains a common strategy to improve the financial sustainability of pension systems without reducing pension levels,” with the alternatives being higher contribution rates or reduced benefit levels — both of which carry their own substantial political and economic costs. Across 32 European countries analysed, men already face higher retirement ages in 21 of them, and women in 24, underscoring how broad the direction of travel already is, even before future scheduled increases are factored in.
Current Retirement Ages Across Europe
As of 2024, the highest retirement age for men stands at 67, recorded in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands, against an EU average of 64.7 years. Turkey represents a pronounced outlier at the other end of the spectrum, with a male retirement age of just 52; the next lowest figure is 62, shared by Greece, Slovenia and Luxembourg. Among Europe’s five largest economies, Germany sets the highest bar for men at 66.2 years, while France sits at the lower end with a retirement age of 64.3 — a figure that has itself been the subject of considerable domestic political controversy in recent years.
For women, the picture is broadly similar at the upper end, with Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway again recording the highest current retirement age at 67, against an EU average of 64 years. Turkey’s figure for women is even more striking: at 49, it is substantially below every other country in the dataset, with Poland the next lowest at 60. These outliers are significant, as they explain why Turkey and Poland will register the largest absolute increases in the decades ahead.
Projected Retirement Ages by the Late 2060s
By the late 2060s, the EU average retirement age for men is projected to reach 66.7 years, with Denmark recording the highest figure of any country at 74 — a consequence of its statutory link between retirement age and life expectancy. Estonia is projected to reach 71 for men, while Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Cyprus are all expected to reach 70. At the lower end, Slovenia and Luxembourg will retain a retirement age of 62 for men, the lowest within the EU. Among the major economies, Italy will have the highest future male retirement age at 70, followed by the United Kingdom at 68 and Germany at 67, with France and Spain both reaching 65.
For women, the EU average is projected to reach 66.6 years, with Denmark again leading at 74, followed by Estonia at 71 and Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Cyprus at 70. Poland will retain the lowest female retirement age within the EU at 60, a reflection of its longstanding policy of maintaining a lower pensionable age for women. Among the larger economies, Italy again records the highest projected figure at 70, with the United Kingdom at 68, Germany at 67, and France and Spain at 65.
The Countries Facing the Largest Increases
Turkey will experience the most dramatic shifts of any country in the dataset, with the male retirement age projected to rise by 13 years and the female retirement age by 14 years — from 52 to 65 for men and from 49 to 63 for women. These figures are exceptional and reflect the degree to which Turkey’s current system is an outlier rather than a model of incremental adjustment. Denmark faces a seven-year increase for men, while Estonia, Italy, Slovakia and Cyprus are each projected to see rises of at least five years.
By contrast, Germany and France will see increases of less than one year for both men and women, while Spain’s female retirement age will remain unchanged at 65. Several other countries will likewise see no adjustment at all, suggesting that the burden of demographic adaptation is falling very unevenly across the continent.
Demographic Pressure and the Limits of Policy
The broader context for these projections is a rapid ageing of OECD populations over the next quarter-century. For every 100 people aged between 20 and 64, the number aged 65 and over is projected to rise from 33 in 2025 to 52 by 2050; in 2000, that figure stood at just 22. This demographic shift places pension systems under structural strain that no single policy instrument can fully resolve, and the OECD report makes clear that raising retirement ages — however contentious politically — is the option that best preserves benefit levels while maintaining fiscal sustainability.
One important caveat concerns Denmark, whose exceptionally high projected retirement age of 74 rests on a current one-to-one statutory link between pensionable age and life expectancy. The OECD report notes that Denmark may soften this link, in which case “the projected future normal retirement age would be lower than 74.” How governments choose to calibrate such mechanisms — balancing actuarial logic against social and political considerations — will determine whether the projections presented here are ultimately realised or revised downward in the years ahead.