Denmark is set to have the highest retirement age in Europe, after lawmakers voted to raise it to 70.

Parliamentarians passed a bill mandating the rise on Thursday, with 81 votes in favor and 21 against.

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,” employment minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in a press release Thursday.

  • selkiesidhe@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    I don’t think the shithead oligarchs who barely work a week outta the year should get to tell the working class how long they are forced to work.

    And where do you expect them to work? No one is going to hire a 70 year old! (Except the US, bonus if they’re a rapist and felon)

    This is getting ridiculous…

  • Kokesh@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    Work all your life to feed the pyramid pension scheme and when you finally retire, you’re too old to do anything meaningful with your life.

  • tankplanker@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    So this rise for Denmark does not kick in on people born before 1970, so it does not count for baby boomers or the oldest and usually wealthiest sub set of Gen X. Oh, also Danish politicians can still retire at 60 right?

    This is fairly typical with these age rises, applies to everybody BUT the largest group who have caused all the problem by being the largest group and who often haven’t paid their fair share in a lot of schemes as a lot of state pension schemes are a Ponzi scheme rather than an actual investment fund, including the Danes as its paid directly out of taxation.

    This means all the poor fucks who will now retire later will still be paying for that largest ever group to retire at an earlier age.

    What is particularly insidious with this type of change is that the private pension age has also been raised for people in the UK. This means even if you can afford to you cant take it as early as you once could. Absolutely done because they will be means testing the UK state pension at some point.

    • Eximius@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      I generally think all politicians should be forced to retire from political work by at most 60yo.

      • tankplanker@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        I agree, also term limits for all of them.

        However its egregious for them to be raising the mandatory retirement age for everybody else while leaving their volentary retirement age where it is, and with a particularly fat pension, its about £4k a month for only twenty years of service.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Danish millennials and gen xers who work in retirement or old age support roles should change careers. And zers and alphas getting into it should consider hiatuses.

  • ProfThadBach@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I am a teacher and I could not imagine staying in a classroom for another 7 years. I barely made it to 63. My retirement begins next week. I just hope 50k a year is enough. That was my goal and when I it it I said I am done.

  • troed@fedia.io
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    21 hours ago

    in this thread: Americans who have absolutely no idea what society looks like in Denmark. Or anywhere outside of the US actually.

    • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      The channel Economics Explained actually covered Denmark on this weeks video essay. The impression that I got is that they really have their shit together, even these planned retirement age changes are expected to be gradual so people can plan for it.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    24 hours ago

    I think the average lifespan in America is 67.

    People would be truly working until death, there.

  • Bieren@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    We’ve reached a point where my retirement plan involves suicide. It’s cheaper and I don’t want to go through all the health issues my parents are. Go to any nursing home and look at all the people so drugged up they have no idea where they are. People are just miserable and don’t even comprehend what is happening. That’s not living. That’s being kept alive by your family cause they are selfish.

    • Pringles@sopuli.xyz
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      22 hours ago

      That’s why you have euthanasia laws in some countries. It allows you to say goodbye with dignity while you are still sane. For example, if you get diagnosed with an aggressive and untreatable cancer, it allows you to say farewell to your loved ones before you become a husk of your former self simply waiting to die.

    • PostingInPublic@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      What spooks me is that most of the people currently living in these institutions likely would have had the exact same thoughts when they were younger.

      The vast majority apparently fail to follow up. Will you? Will I?

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Simple. They want more people to die before being able to claim retirement. Dead pensioners are free.

  • flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    Part of it makes sense. We live longer and longer, retirement age is something that needs to be adjusted with the human lifespan.

    The problem is that our idea of what “work” should be is so awful that people look forward to retiring, and logically complain if they are denied the opportunity.

    • OCATMBBL@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Ah, yes, the old argument of “you live longer, so the billionaires get to own more of your time”.

      No. How about if I get to live longer, I get to enjoy my tiny little bit of time longer? It isn’t scarcity by nature - it’s scarcity by design.

    • a4ng3l@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      You’ve seen a lot of oldies that are in working order after 60+? 70+? They are exceptions, not the norm. Longer isn’t healthier. Not on a functional level. Especially for those not in an office which is I think the majority.

    • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      If our Quality of life is increasing shouldn’t we be working less and for shorter periods of our lives?

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      We live longer and longer, retirement age is something that needs to be adjusted with the human lifespan.

      Should it? We live longer and longer, but we’re also more and more productive. 50 years ago, for example, the national labor force produced enough for them and (almost) everyone else to retire after about 40 years of labor. Certainly lifespans have increased, but have they increased more than the productivity of the national labor force? I doubt it. Productivity has definitely increased enough to make up the difference in lifespans, especially since most women now work, meaning essentially double the number of workers. In that case, should we not spend the extra time (which we have earned with our own labor) with our families and friends rather than sacrifice it to some rich prick whose only contribution to society is a portfolio? There’s something distinctly dystopian about the idea that living longer means we should dedicate our time to enriching the already filthy rich rather than enjoy life.

    • troed@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      … in Denmark? I mean, they’re the happiest population on Earth in general.

      I’m just across the channel in southern Sweden and there’s no way I’m going to retire already in 17 years (67, which I think is the current retirement age for us)

    • NostraDavid@programming.dev
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      22 hours ago

      We live longer and longer, retirement age is something that needs to be adjusted with the human lifespan.

      I think it has more to do with the baby boom right after 1945. If those older people retire, there isn’t enough younger generation to support them, so more people need to work longer, so we don’t get too many retired people all at once.

      I think it’s more of a “can we support the retired” kind of issue - not just “muh money”. It’s a little more nuanced than that.

      • Cort@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        If that were the case, they’d be increasing the retirement age for everyone, not just people under 55.

        If they’re short on funds for the people about to retire, it means those people haven’t contributed enough to fund their own retirement.

  • Caveman@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    In Iceland we have massive pension funds where people pay for their own retirement.