News: 0178354762

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Few Danes Work Until Official Retirement Age as Government Pushes It to 70 (courthousenews.com)

(Friday July 11, 2025 @05:22PM (msmash) from the story-of-our-lives dept.)


Denmark's Parliament adopted a law in May [1]raising the retirement age to 70 by 2040 , up from the current 67, affecting anyone born after December 31, 1970. The country indexed its official retirement age to life expectancy in 2006 and revises it every five years, with the age set to increase to 68 in 2030 and 69 in 2035.

Few Danes actually work until the legal retirement age -- in 2022, when the official age was 67, the actual average retirement age was around 64, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. About 20% of Danish retirees leave work because they cannot find employment or are too sick to continue. The universal public pension currently provides 7,198 kroner ($1,130) per month, supplemented by mandatory and optional employer-funded pensions.



[1] https://www.courthousenews.com/danes-reluctant-to-embrace-retirement-at-70/



Humans have become slaves to corporations (again). (Score:1)

by MikeDataLink ( 536925 )

Remember when coal companies paid employees in coal miner credits that were only good at the company store, and you had to rent your housing from the same company on the mine's land. You had zero chance of retiring, and basically worked until you died. We're almost back to those days.

Re: (Score:1)

by flyingfsck ( 986395 )

I load 16 tonnes, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.

Re: (Score:1)

by McLoud ( 92118 )

> I load 16 tonnes, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.

+1 Cruel Reality

Re: (Score:2)

by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 )

You load 16 tons, how do you feel? Too tired to work and too scared to steal.

Re: (Score:2)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

Saint Peter don't you call me, cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Re: (Score:2)

by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 )

More like slaves to the useless eaters. Sure, the top 0.1% is doing well, but it's the ratio of dependents which is the more fundamental problem, eating the rich won't solve it.

At the same time that social cohesion is going to shit and EU competitiveness is cratering.

Tax Increases Inbound (Score:2)

by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 )

45% in taxes and you have to work until 70 for a meager pension. Oof.

Sounds like a prelude to tax increases.

Re:Tax Increases Inbound (Score:5, Informative)

by Anubis350 ( 772791 )

Erm..

1) the public pension basically the same as the average social security check in the US but there's also universal healthcare, which is the overwhelming cost problem for most American seniors, and better renter protections which is the other major problem for American seniors

2) it's in *addition* to mandatory employer paid pensions for most folks

so, in reality, a lot more bang for their buck than here for that 45%

Re: (Score:3)

by timeOday ( 582209 )

All American seniors already do have socialized healthcare.

Re: (Score:2)

by molarmass192 ( 608071 )

The US provides Medicare for seniors 65 and older. While not universal healthcare, it does cover about 80% of healthcare costs.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

It's not a solution for the able-bodied under 65, but we're talking about people 65+ here.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)

Re: (Score:2)

by greytree ( 7124971 )

45% in taxes and it is a happy, safe country.

It's almost as if you get what you pay for.

Re: Tax Increases Inbound (Score:1)

by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 )

Keep a lid on who and what you let through the border and nip the fashionable anti-intellectual mind viruses in the bud and you too can have a happy and safe country.

The astute observer will note the above policy prescriptions and proscriptions are orthogonal to tax rates, retirement ages, or the precise form and magnitude of the social safety net.

Seem fair (Score:2)

by OrangeTide ( 124937 )

Seem fair to push retirement ages up, because everyone lives to the same age right?

Re: (Score:2)

by timeOday ( 582209 )

I guess this is what happens if you just do the math and adjust the program accordingly. That must be why we in the US don't do that. Hard to tell whether racking up debt instead will work out in the end though.

Trend or hiccup? (Score:1)

by Tablizer ( 95088 )

Both Denmark and France are socialist-leaning countries. I didn't think the gov't would get away with increasing the retirement age.

Right-wing parties have been winning in EU of late, often fueled by anti-Muslim boogymanning, perhaps borrowing rhetoric from our Tinted One by exaggerating and highlighting crime or terrorist events*. I wonder when the anti-Muslim fervor eventually dies down if the leftist parties will adjust the retirement age back down.

* EU desperately need immigrants to keep their populatio

Re: (Score:2)

by HiThere ( 15173 )

The problem with immigrants is always getting them to integrate with the resident culture rather than just transplanting their own into the new place.

How is that not elimintation of old age benefits? (Score:2)

by sinij ( 911942 )

So they run out of other people's money already? So much for socialist utopia.

Will be forced to raid the English coast (Score:2)

by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 )

Need to raid a few monasteries to pick up some loot for retirement.

Want smart people to work longer ? (Score:2)

by greytree ( 7124971 )

Just as with encouraging smart people to have more kids, governments simply have to reward them with cuts in income tax.

( As part of a balanced budget - no need to be Trump Stoopid. )

I've Been Moved!