Denmark has passed a landmark bill to become the European country with the highest retirement age.
According to CNN, the Danish parliament passed a bill mandating the rise with a heavy majority to have the highest retirement age on the continent.
81 parliamentarians voted in favour of raising the retirement age to 70, which is currently 67 on average, while 21 voted against the bill. The new law will affect the people born in 1971 or later.
Welfare for future generations
Employment minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, in a press release Thursday, May 22, 2025, expressed that the rise is needed in order to be able to “afford proper welfare for future generations.”
F&P, the Danish trade association for insurance companies and pension funds, stated, “Developments in recent years clearly show a marked increase in the number of Danes who continue to work until, and beyond, the state pension age.”
As per the official Statistics Denmark website, the population of the Scandinavian country is almost 6 million, with around 713,000 between the ages of 60 and 69 and around 580,000 aged between 70 and 79.
F&P revealed that around 80,000 people in Denmark are working even though they are older than the retirement age.
Experts believe that it is so because the Danish economy is strong, employers are more flexible, better financial incentives exist and people have more reasons to keep working.
It is worth noting that Denmark is not only the first European country with a retirement age above 60 but also one of the highest in the world, along with Libya.
