Denmark raises retirement age to 70 -highest in Europe

[Basman]

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/23/business/denmark-retirement-age-rise-70-intl-scli

Quote

...The new law will apply to people born after December 31, 1970. The current retirement age is 67 on average, but it can go up to 69 for those born on January 1, 1967, or later.

The rise is needed in order to be able to “afford proper welfare for future generations,”...

...“For many Danes, the idea of the state pension age increasing to 70 by 2040 may seem overwhelming,” Jan V. Hansen, the director of pensions at the association, said in the release. “However, the figures clearly demonstrate that a growing number of Danes are remaining in employment for longer periods.”

“The good news is that many Danes not only have the health but also the desire to continue working — even after reaching the state pension age,” he continued...

...Denmark’s socialist Red-Green Alliance, however, described the vote by “the government and the right wing” in a post on Facebook as “unreasonably high,” and condemned the change in light of the “great” pension conditions enjoyed by many ministers who can retire at age 60.

One of the worst aspects of Danish culture is their placidity politically, bordering on apathy. A complete lack of willingness to meaningfully engage politically when the social contract is being renegotiated against their interest. Like with the removal of a national holiday, the illegal destruction of the mink industry, the gutting of the education system and the general generational theft occurring. While raising the retirement age is common globally Denmark stands out with its lack of meaningful civil discourse on the matter. The French would riot over less.

[PurpleTree]

12 hours ago, Basman said:

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/23/business/denmark-retirement-age-rise-70-intl-scli

One of the worst aspects of Danish culture is their placidity politically, bordering on apathy. A complete lack of willingness to meaningfully engage politically when the social contract is being renegotiated against their interest. Like with the removal of a national holiday, the illegal destruction of the mink industry, the gutting of the education system and the general generational theft occurring. While raising the retirement age is common globally Denmark stands out with its lack of meaningful civil discourse on the matter. The French would riot over less.

Yea but the french now have a blocked non functioning government.

[Basman]

40 minutes ago, PurpleTree said:

Yea but the french now have a blocked non functioning government.

It's admittedly an exaggeration.

They smell as well...

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I can assure you that there will be no pension for any of us, certainly not if you happened to be born somewhere around this century. And the only thing that will ever be done about it in terms of politics, is raising age of retirement and raising taxes. Exactly like in the example above. You can only depend on yourself

[Schizophonia]

There should at least be an exception for the most difficult jobs; you can't work 70 years as a construction worker unless you literally destroy yourself physically.
 

And what do you even do if you're unemployed at 60? Almost no one wants to hire 60-year-olds.

[D2sage]

People in nordic countries have a wierd, perverted love/hate relationship with the gov.

 

[Basman]

On 24/05/2025 at 6:36 PM, Schizophonia said:

There should at least be an exception for the most difficult jobs; you can't work 70 years as a construction worker unless you literally destroy yourself physically.
 

And what do you even do if you're unemployed at 60? Almost no one wants to hire 60-year-olds.

Yeah, it's like one thing to work till 70 but another to be actually employable at that age.

If you fall off the train in your 60s, what are you supposed to even do? I can easily see there being a welfare class of older people who can't get a job but are too young to get a pension in the future. The dastardly thing about it is that it potentially saves on paying out pensions to people who reasonably are too old to work.

Edited Sunday at 11:44 PM by Basman

[Basman]

Since the retirement dilemma (the prospect of unsustainable retirement ages financially/demographically) I've been contemplating that it's a consequence in part of the atomization of society, because in the past families would take care of the elderly and the elderly would help raise children and pass on experience but that kind of dynamic is more or less gone. You'd be lucky just to live in the same zip code as your family these days much less the same house.

That sort of communality provides tangible value to society that can't be bought with money which has been lost. In general, I think that in the modern age we need to consciously take responsibility for creating our communities to fulfill us socially and help us survive as opposed to relying on externalities to create and maintain communities, which then results in the gradual diminishment of communities as those externalities evaporate with modern inventions and infrastructure.

I think we as a society of people should take greater responsibility for our own survival and not just rely on institutions to baby all of our needs. We need a culture that emphasizes community. And the benefit of having let go of old traditions as a culture is that you have more freedom to choose your own "tribe". Medieval people get a lot of flak for being backwards but they knew how to survive without relying purely on the state. We could combine the best of both worlds much more effectively.

[Lyubov]

13 hours ago, Basman said:

Yeah, it's like one thing to work till 70 but another to be actually employable at that age.

If you fall off the train in your 60s, what are you supposed to even do? I can easily see there being a welfare class of older people who can't get a job but are too young to get a pension in the future. The dastardly thing about it is that it potentially saves on paying out pensions to people who reasonably are too old to work.

Yes, it’s a challenge as it is now even for people of decent working age. How the f is someone in their 50s or 60s supposed to repurpose themselves for the economy? The system is deeply flawed. Most millennials have nothing saved for retirement. There will be a massive wave of elderly who need welfare.