Where Do People Retire The Earliest (And Latest)?

In most countries, the average effective labor market exit age is lower than the official full pension age. In the European Union, for example, the majority of Member States have set the legal retirement age at around 65 (62 to 67), but as the most recent data from the OECD shows, many Europeans actually leave the professional world earlier.

In Europe, it’s common for people in Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia and Romania to leave the labor market comparatively later (averaging 65 years old, when the mean is calculated for men and women). By contrast, the average labor market exit age is closer to 60 in Luxembourg, Slovakia, Croatia and Greece. Other countries on the continent with a comparatively early retirement age include France, Belgium, Spain and Austria (61), while the EU-27 average is 62 (2020 data).