The retirement age in Greece has been one of the lowest in the world to date. Reforms implemented in recent years in the countest’s social security system, driven by the debt crisis and the aging population, are now leading to a significant increase in the retirement age. However, starting from a low base, it appears it will continue to be below the international average.
Workers who retired in 2022 with full years of employment were 62 years old. However, workers who entered the labor market in 2022 will retire at the age of 66. Although 44 years of employment will be required to retire from the labor market instead of 40, the retirement age in Greece will be the 13th lowest among the 29 countries utilized as a sample by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Notably, the age limit of 62 in Greece was the lowest to date, along with those in Slovenia and Luxembourg. The pioneer in increasing the retirement age is Denmark, which will raise the limit from 67 to 74 years. Italy and Estonia follow, as they will increase the age limit for retirement from 64 to 71 years.
Due to the demographic shift of populations in recent decades, direct and indirect pension expfinishitures in most countries of the European Union constitute an ever-increasing share of total government expfinishiture.
Interestingly, the maintenance of Europe’s population at current levels and, by extension, the maintenance of the general sustainability of the social security systems has been achieved thanks to immigration, which since the 1990s has compensated for the natural decline of the European population. According to a study by the Bruegel believe tank, without immigration the EU population would already be in rapid decline.
In this environment, after Portugal and the Netherlands, Greece is the third countest in the sample in terms of the level of replacement rates, above Austria and Luxembourg. Net replacement rates in the EU vary significantly, from 30% in Lithuania to 90% in Greece.
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