Retire at 70? Government plans

According to the 2012 legislation, from the new year 2024, age limits will be redefined every three years, always based on the “life expectancy” indicator.

Estimated EU and OECD, in Greece by 2050, due to increasing life expectancy, the age limit should be raised by 2.8 years. In other words, from age 67 it should rise to 69.8, and in 2070 the limit should reach 72 years.

Typical was the response from the responsible Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Panos Tsakloglou, when asked whether Greece would need to raise the retirement age again at some point. According to him, the 2012 law already tied the retirement age limits to life expectancy.

However, in 2013, the retirement age was increased from 65 to 67 years.

It should be emphasized that, according to the current provisions (the provisions of the Katrougalos law, which has not been repealed), from the new year 2024 age restrictions will be redefined (recalculated) every three years, always based on life expectancy.

According to representatives of the Ministry of Labor, given that the main pension systems in almost all countries are pay-as-you-go (employee contributions pay pensions to pensioners without adjusting pension thresholds), a rapidly shrinking number of workers will be forced “support” an increasing number of pensioners.

This is also the reason that more and more countries are linking life expectancy to retirement age.

Highest retirement age in the EU
Similar legislation exists in Greece. However, when this law was adopted, the retirement age in our country was 65 years, and in 2013 this limit was increased to 67 years. This is also the reason that the corresponding clause will not be activated in the coming years. Let us recall, however, that in our country, in 2012 and then in 2015, memorandums introduced a sharp increase in the general age limit by 2 years, with the result that the maximum retirement age is now 67 years, which is the highest rate in the EU. Until 2015, we experienced an increase in life expectancy (from approximately 7 to 12 months). However, in recent years, due to the pandemic, life expectancy has decreased, so the issue of raising general limits is unlikely to be raised, sources in the Ministry of Labor note.

What the OECD predicts
According to the OECD’s annual report, by 2050 the number of retirees for every 100 workers is projected to double. So, if in 1990 the ratio was 22.9 people over 65 years of age per 100 workers, then in 2020 the ratio was 37.8, and in 2050 it will reach an ominous 75.

In its report on the pension systems of member countries, the organization Referring to our country, she calculated that perhaps by 2050, due to improved life expectancy, the age limit should be increased by 2.8 years. This adjustment will occur in relation to ages:

• 62 years (and 40 years of insurance),
• 67 years old with 15 years of insurance.

For example, as for France, with the recent protests about the pension system, in this country there is no problem of low birth rate, since each woman has 2 children, whereas in Greece it is 1.4 children. There are also no problems with pension expenses. In contrast, spending fell from 13.5% of GDP to 12% (from the EU limit of 16%). The decision was made to further reduce the pension fund so that excess funds would reduce taxation for businesses.

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