Denmark Heading for Retirement at 74: 21 European States Raised the Bar, and the Number That Explains Everything Is 33 Against 52

The average retirement age in the European Union will climb by the late 2060s from 64.7 to 66.9 years for men, and from 64 to 66.6 years for women. That is the analysis based on OECD data from 32 countries, published in the "Pensions at a Glance 2025" report.

Increases are planned for men in 21 of the countries analysed, and for women in 24. So this is not the exception - it is the rule.

Denmark to 74

Denmark goes furthest. The projection for the late 2060s is a threshold of 74 years. Estonia goes to 71. Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Cyprus to 70.

The biggest single jump belongs to Turkey - from 52 years for men today to 65, a difference of 13 years in one move. Denmark adds seven, Estonia over six, and Italy, Slovakia and Cyprus five or more each.

Today, the highest thresholds are in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands, at 67 years for men.

The number that explains the whole story

One sentence in the report is worth more than all the tables: on average across OECD countries, for every 100 people aged between 20 and 64, the number of people over 65 is projected to rise from 33 in 2025 to 52 in 2050.

In other words - fewer people paying into the fund, more people drawing from it. You don't need an ideology to follow the arithmetic.

The Balkans know this scene, only from the other side. Here, the demographic pressure comes with the added fact that whole generations left, so their contributions now flow into somebody else's funds. Twenty-one European cabinets have already sat down and written the unpopular number on paper. Will anyone here do the same before it becomes urgent - or will we wait for the projection to arrive on its own?