Pensioners 'under 60': today only one in ten, in 2009 the figure was 90%.

"The increase in the average retirement age is strongly affected by the effects of the reforms that over time, particularly since 2012" when the Fornero law came into force, "have tightened the requirements for access to retirement". ISTAT's statistical focus on 'Pensions and labour market participation of 50-74 year olds' leaves no room for doubt as to how much the number of so-called 'young pensioners' has shrunk in recent years, despite the temporary advent of Quota 100' and the many exceptions to the measure launched by the Monti government to reorganise the welfare system. "The incidence of those who retired before the age of 60 has fallen from around 90 per cent recorded for the years before 2009 to values of just over 10 per cent in 2023, with a greater reduction among men," reads the survey by the Institute of Statistics. In other words, in almost fifteen years, the number of workers 'under 60' who have opted for retirement has fallen from nine in ten to one in ten.

What caused the average retirement age to rise significantly was mainly the Fornero law, which took off in 2012 and imposed a drastic crackdown on early retirements and raised all the thresholds for access to retirement. But in the following years there were many exemptions. And in 2019 Quota 100 also appeared, which for a three-year period allowed early exits with at least 62 years of age and 38 of contributions. Once these three years were over, it moved first to Quota 102 and then, with the Meloni government, to Quota 103. Since last year it has been further tightened with the binding link to the contribution method. Again the Meloni government has gradually made access to almost all early retirement channels substantially less easy.

The Istat focus points out that for the 50-74 age group the average age at receipt of the first old age pension (from work and other) is 61.4 years. This figure is actually in line with the European average (61.3 years). The old age threshold is higher among women (61.9 years) than among men (60.9 years). Moreover, in Italy women start receiving a pension later than at European level: the average is 60.9 years for women and 61.3 years for men.

ISTAT notes that among recipients of an occupational pension in the 50-74 age group, the average age at retirement is 60.9 years. The focus states that 'due to the effect of past legislative measures (in which the legal age at retirement was lower), of the more recent regulations that have introduced flexibility measures on exit (Quota 100, 102 and 103), and of the advances to retirement for heavy or usurious work, the curve has peaks, especially among women, at the ages of 60 (13.7%) and 67 (11.8%)'. In the first case," the Institute of Statistics points out, "most people retired before the 2012 'Fornero' reform. Moreover, a high proportion of labour pension recipients (almost 10%) declare a retirement age of 62'.

Also in the 50-74 age bracket, on average women start receiving their pensions slightly later than men: the average age is 61.0 compared to 60.8 for men. The average age is also higher in Southern Italy (62.3 years), among foreigners (63.5) and among university graduates (63.1), 'a consequence for the latter - the focus reads - also of the delayed entry into the labour market compared to less educated people'.