Retirement for UK women one of the shortest in Europe – Will state pension age be lowered?
Four out of five of the European countries studied provided a longer retirement for women than the UK. Britain was also one of the top 10 countries in terms of highest retirement age.
The study from Consultus Care gathered the average life expectancies and average retirement ages for both men and women in different countries in Europe and compared the results to find the best and worst nations for retirement.
Some worrying news for British women came from the research, with UK women ranking in the top 10 European countries with the least time to enjoy retirement, at just 17.28 years. Eighty percent of countries surveyed had a longer retirement length for women than the UK.
Slovenia is the best European country to retire in for women with an average retirement length of 24.44 years for women. Bosnia & Herzegovina is the worst European country to retire in for women with an average retirement length of 15.32 years.
Here is the full list of the 10 European countries with the shortest retirement length for women:
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For men on the other hand, 45 percent of the European countries in the study have a longer retirement length than the UK, with Sweden being the best European country to retire in, with an average retirement length of 19.69 years.
Moldova is the worst European country to retire in for men with an average retirement length of 5.02 years. Moldova is also the European country with the lowest average cost of living.
The study also showed the UK to be one of the European nations with the highest pension age. In fact, the UK is in the top 25 percent of European countries with the oldest retirement age.
The state pension age is currently 66 in the UK for both men and women.
Only six other countries had a higher average retirement age than the UK for both men and women. However, many of the countries with lower retirement ages had lower life expectancies as well.
The UK state pension age is set to potentially rise by two years, as it is set to jump to 67 by 2028 and later to 68. This would make the UK the country with the highest retirement age in Europe.
Life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen for the first time in 40 years, which has led to calls for the state pension age to be reviewed and ultimately reduced, rather than increased in the coming years.
See the full list of the 10 European nations with the highest retirement age below:
Germany- 65.83
United Kingdom- 66
Ireland- 66
Spain- 66
Netherlands- 66.33
Denmark- 66.5
Portugal- 66.5
Iceland- 67
Greece- 67
Italy- 67
While Switzerland, Sweden, Malta, Norway, Luxembourg appeared on the list of countries with a higher average life expectancy and longer retirement length than the UK for men, this does come with the trade-off of a higher cost of living.
Similarly, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Malta, Belgium and France have a similar issue for women. The higher cost of living appears to have a connection with life expectancy and retirement length.
But despite inflation in the UK falling from 3.2 percent to 3.1 percent for the year to September 2021, it is still well above the Bank of England’s target of two percent. The cost of living in the UK is predicted to surge in the coming months.
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