China has the world's youngest retirement age, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For that distinction, it can partly thank a government policy dating back to the 1950s that lets women retire at 50 and men at 60.
State pension age: UK vs Europe
On the lower end of the scale, France's retirement age is 62, alongside Italy, Greece, Luxembourg and Slovenia, all of whom enjoy the lowest state pension age of EU member states.
Greece is among the countries with the highest retirement age in the world: 67 for men and women. Workers can claim full pension benefits only if they have contributed to the pension plan for at least 15 years (equivalent to 4,500 working days). Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and Italy also have retirement ages of 67.
Retirees can begin to claim at 62, the earliest eligibility age. When the full retirement age was 65, a worker claiming at 62 would get 80 percent of a full benefit.
Age Pension age
66 years, if you were born between 1 January 1954 and 30 June 1955. 66 years and 6 months, if you were born between 1 July 1955 and 31 December 1956. 67 years, if you were born on or after 1 January 1957.
There is no official retirement age in New Zealand. The common age to retire is 65 when NZ Super and some other pension payments start.
The ASFA Retirement Standard Explainer says a comfortable retirement lifestyle would need $640,000 in super for a couple, or $545,000 for a single person.
In fact, a recent survey found that investors believe they'll need at least $3 million to retire comfortably. But retiring with $1 million is still possible, even as early as age 55, if you're smart about it. It will require some careful planning since you'll have to wait 10 years for Medicare, but it can be done.
Germany sits in the middle of the European pack when it comes to retirement age. 65 years and 7 months is the standard age at which someone in Germany can retire, but some schemes allow people retiring here to take out less money on their pensions in exchange for retiring early.
French President Emmanuel Macron has enacted controversial new reforms that raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64.
Instead, there are pension ages, at which you can access a pension – including the state pension and other pensions you might have. The average retirement age in the UK is 65 years old for men, while women leave work at an average of 64 years old, according to government figures from 2021.
There is no fixed retirement age in Sweden. You can apply for your income pension from the month you become 62 years of age at the earliest and there is no upper age limit. You have the right to work until you are 68, but you can also work for longer if you and your employer agree on this.
There's no such thing as a 'retirement age' in Australia, nor any laws that dictate when someone can retire.
Many people choose to retire when they become eligible for the Age Pension. The Age Pension age is 67. If current Government proposals are accepted, the Age Pension age will be 70 by 2035. This applies to both men and women.
The Work Bonus income bank is useful for pensioners who wish to work, particularly those who undertake intermittent or occasional work. Note: from 1 December 2022 to 31 December 2023, a one-off, temporary credit of $4,000 applies to Work Bonus income bank balances.
Latest Age Pension changes (from 20 March 2023)
Single: $1,064.00 per fortnight (approximately $27,664 per year) Couple (each): $802.00 per fortnight (approximately $20,852 per year)
When your child turns 19, your eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) stops.
You can access your super as long as you've permanently retired. If you end an employment arrangement on or after age 60, you can also access the super you've earned up until then. If you're not ready to retire, you could use some of your super while you're still working, with a Transition to Retirement Income account.
There are absolutely no restrictions to accessing your Super Benefit when aged between 60 and 64 after you are retired. There are two ways you can access your Super; either as a lump-sum payment or as a pension.
The adequacy of the Age Pension in Australia: An assessment of pensioner living standards. The Age Pension in Australia is inadequate. It fails to provide a decent standard of living for approximately 1.5 million older Australians who rely on it as their main source of income.
Assuming you will need $40,000 per year to cover your basic living expenses, your $1 million would last for 25 years if there was no inflation. However, if inflation averaged 3% per year, your $1 million would only last for 20 years.