Rising legal retirement age in most countries
18/04/2011
The legal retirement age has therefore risen in most countries. Direct comparisons are not easy, due to the diversity of rules applied: an age condition may be combined with a period of contribution condition (although this condition may, as is the case in France, cease to apply past a certain age), or either condition may be applied individually.
Whichever option is adopted, the reforms introduced have changed (or kept) the full pension retirement age to 67 in France (with no period of contribution condition) and Germany (at least 5 years of contributions), 66 in Great Britain (at least 30 years of contributions) and 65 in Spain, the Benelux countries and Ireland... while Italy and Poland retain a double legal age of 65 for men and 60 for women.
The minimum period of contributions required for full pension entitlement varies considerably. In France, this period is 41 years, 3 months for retirement at 62, falling to zero for those retiring at 67. In Germany, it will soon be 45 years before beneficiaries can receive a pension at 65, or 5 years to receive a pension at 67. The United Kingdom has lowered this condition to 30 years, whilst Italy and Sweden have simply done away with it (the pension received simply reflects the contributions made). Conversely, in Greece, 37 years of contributions are sufficient to qualify for a full pension, regardless of age.
