A significant number of German residents retire ahead of schedule
According to the latest statistics from 2014, a total of almost 197,000 (or 23.9%) of German citizens decided not to wait until retirement age, preferring the comfort of home to the workplace. Naturally, they all had to accept a reduction in pension payments, on average by 7%. The concerns of economists are therefore understandable; they now say that further raising the retirement age in Germany raises serious concerns.
According to experts, today's figures clearly contradict the German government's decision to gradually raise the retirement age to 67 by 2029. 'Even today, people do not want to wait for a regular pension, retiring on average two years earlier. What will happen when retirement is only possible at 67?' ask experts from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), warning of a significant reduction in the regular labor force.
Meanwhile, the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund) provides its own figures, which are supposed to demonstrate that the situation is not so critical. Indeed, in 2014, 196,645 people applied for early retirement. However, this figure is significantly lower than it was, for example, in 2011. At that time, 336,856 German residents decided to retire early (48.2% of all retirees) and live on reduced pension payments. Thus, the Pension Fund argues, there is a clear reduction in the negative trend.
However, leading German economists are confident that the decline in the number of 'early retirees' has a different cause, namely legislative. Analysts point out that government programs that allowed retirement as early as 60, such as the 'pension for women' or 'pension due to unemployment' programs, are gradually being phased out. And the Federal Cabinet has not yet developed any new such programs.