Pensions: in the EU threshold up by 2.1 years since 2012, in Italy the age remains 'low'

In 2023 the average retirement age in the EU was 61.3 years: 2.1 more than in 2012. Over the same period, the 'transition' from work to retirement was extended by 5 years. Almost half of those aged 50-74, 45.1% to be precise, received pension benefits (old age for 39.7%), including in the form of disability or invalidity allowances. And about two-thirds of pensioners took the retirement route between the ages of 60 and 65. This picture was taken by Eurostat with the publication of 'Pensions and labour market participation - main characteristics', which highlights how last year only 10.2% of those in the European Union receiving a pension were 'employed', and no more than 13% of those who had received their first old age pension had continued to work.

The dossier also contains an analysis conducted to group individual EU countries on the basis of their pension system and the behaviour of pensioners. And Italy is placed in the fifth of the five groups identified, along with 12 other states (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain), a group that is characterised by a low proportion of people receiving private or personal pensions, with no 'legal' treatment, and a 'low retirement age'.

In our country the average age at the time of old age retirement (which in this case also includes early retirement) recorded in 2023 by Eurostat is in any case 61.4 years, thus slightly higher than the EU average and in any case higher than, for example, that of France (60.4) or Greece (58.6), but clearly below the level reached in Germany (62.2), Portugal (62.5) and Spain (63.1), as well as in the Scandinavian countries. The paper states that in this group there is also a small percentage of people who continue working once they have reached retirement age and that most of those who leave the labour market do so because they have met the requirements for retirement.

The first grouping identified by Eurostat consists of Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands, with a small share of mandatory pensions and a much larger share of 'occupational or personal pensions', all accompanied by an average retirement age that is the highest in Europe (between 63.1 and 64.7 years). In the second grouping are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Luxembourg with the highest share of bonus pensions and an average retirement age. The third group consists of Cyprus, Germany and Portugal and has a high share of pensions and a low share of individuals continuing to work after reaching the retirement age. The fourth group includes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: in the dossier it is noted that a large proportion of individuals receive only 'statutory' pensions and a small number benefit from reduced or bonus pensions. Also in this group the average retirement age is relatively low while the proportion of pensioners who continue to work mainly for financial reasons is high.