Some before and some after, all around the age of 65 and with the prospect of exceeding 70. The retirement age in Italy and Europe is a curve that tends to grow. According to the latest report on medium-long term trends of the pension system of the State Accounting Office, the retirement age should increase in our country by another three months in 2029 and by another two months in 2031, following the mechanism provided by the law for adjusting the requirements to life expectancy, with biennial increments: the next in 2027, then in 2029, in 2031 and so on. It means that in 2084 you should retire at 70 years and 9 months for both men and women with an average between the two sexes of 46 years and two months of contributions.
The retirement age is increasing in all European countries
Important numbers but not so different from what happens in other European countries: life expectancy is increasing and the time spent in retirement as a consequence, the twenty-seven are therefore modifying their social security systems and the widespread trend is to raise the retirement age.
To date, in the European Union, the legal retirement age for men varies between 62 and 67 years, while for women between 60 and 67 years. But according to the recent report Pensions at a Glance 2025 According to the OECD, the legal retirement age could reach 74 by 2060, with Denmark poised to lead this transformation. This is followed by Estonia and Italy, where the age is expected to be 71 and 70, with the Netherlands, Sweden and Slovakia close behind.
Why is the retirement age increasing across the board?
The OECD report explains that increasing the retirement age is the most effective solution to avoid having to cut pension benefits in the future. This solution arises from two complementary problems: the general population increase and a decline in fertility.
In OECD countries, the number of people over 65 compared to the working age population (20-64) is growing very rapidly. The ratio was 22 elderly people for every 100 people of working age in 2000, rose to 33 in 2025 and could reach 52 in 2050.
The fertility rate is plummeting in OECD countries, well below the population replacement level which is around 2.1 children per woman. The OECD average was around 1.59 children per woman in 2022 and projections indicate only 1.63 in 2062, therefore without a real recovery.
Because the gap in pensions between men and women is a challenge for the future
The report highlights how, in OECD countries, women receive significantly lower pensions than men. On average, about a quarter lower.
This phenomenon, called the gender pension gap, is closely linked to the inequalities that accumulate over the course of working life. Women tend to have shorter careers, work part-time more often and earn lower wages on average. These factors contribute to a lifetime earnings gap of 35% on average, which is directly reflected in the level of future pensions.
Furthermore, many women interrupt or reduce their working activity to dedicate themselves to caring for children or family members, with negative effects on the contributions paid and therefore on the pension rights accrued. This gap represents a possible critical issue for the future for at least two reasons. On the one hand, lower pensions expose a greater share of older women to the risk of economic vulnerability and poverty in old age. On the other hand, with the aging of the population and the increase in female longevity, the number of women dependent on lower pensions could grow further, amplifying gender inequalities in social protection systems.
What are the possible solutions?
Raising the retirement age remains one of the most used levers, especially in a phase in which the population is ageing, fertility remains low and the ratio between pensioners and people of working age continues to worsen. But the report insists that this alone is not enough and some solutions are proposed.
It all starts in working life: broadening the contribution base means increasing employment, especially among women and older workers, and making it easier to stay active for longer, also through more flexible forms of transition from work to retirement. At the same time, the report suggests that sustainability cannot be separated from equity. For this reason, it recalls the importance of tools that better protect those with low incomes or discontinuous careers, such as basic pensions, more progressive formulas and credits for treatment periods.
It is the same reasoning that applies to the gender pension gap: if inequalities accumulate in the labor market, that is where we need to intervene, increasing female participation, reducing involuntary part-time work and distributing care work in a less unbalanced way. In this sense, the report makes it clear that the real solution is not only to postpone the moment of retirement later, but to build a system capable of holding out for longer because the number of those who contribute expands, inequalities are reduced and the inevitable burden of aging is better distributed.
