Danes Hesitate to Accept Retirement at Age 70
Copenhagen, July 11, 2025 – Denmark’s parliament has passed a law that will raise the official retirement age to 70 by the year 2040. The current retirement age is 67. Despite this change, many Danes remain reluctant to work until they reach 70. Kirsten Evans, a 53-year-old bank employee, is among the first group affected by this new rule. Even though she qualifies to retire at 70 with a full pension, she plans to retire around 65 or 66. Evans says she wants to enjoy retirement while still in good health. “I think 70 is old,” she told AFP. “You want to benefit on the other end and still have a good life afterwards.”
Denmark began linking the retirement age to life expectancy in 2006. The age increases every five years depending on how long people live. The retirement age will rise to 68 in 2030 and 69 in 2035. Those born after December 31, 1970, like Evans, must wait until 70. However, many people do not work until the official retirement age. In 2022, the average retirement age in Denmark was about 64, three years below the legal retirement age. About 20 percent of retirees stop working early because they are sick or cannot find a job. Aske Juul Lassen, an ethnologist at the University of Copenhagen, said that raising the retirement age could widen the gap between those in good health and those who face difficulties working longer.
Damoun Ashournia, chief economist at the Danish Trade Union Confederation, pointed out that very few retirees actually reach the official retirement age. He said this option is not available for many workers, especially those in physically demanding jobs. Camilla Rasmussen, a 37-year-old nurse, believes she cannot physically continue working until 70. “That would be really hard for me, walking 10,000 steps every day,” she said. “If I’m here when I’m 70, I think it’s not fair for the patients.”
Denmark’s pension system combines a universal public pension, employer-funded pensions, and private savings. The public pension currently provides 7,198 kroner ($1,130) per month. Ashournia agreed that raising the retirement age might be necessary to keep the welfare system financially sustainable as the population ages. Yet, he criticized automatic five-year increases in retirement age, which could push it to 74 by 2070. Erik Simonsen, deputy head of the Confederation of Danish Employers, supports the increase. “It would be the most intelligent way to go on, to keep the system. So the older we get, then we have to work a little bit more,” he said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, 47, said she supports reviewing the system once the retirement age reaches 70. She told the daily Berlingske in August 2024 that automatic increases may no longer be suitable. The Trade Union Confederation favors raising the retirement age more slowly in the future, suggesting only a six-month increase for each additional year of life expectancy.
As Denmark faces challenges in balancing longer lifespans with retirement, many workers like Evans and Rasmussen remain cautious about whether they can or will stay in the workforce until age 70.
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