Denmark will have the highest retirement age in Europe after lawmakers passed a new bill raising the pension age to 70 by 2040.
The legislation, approved in parliament on Thursday with 81 votes in favour and 21 against, will affect all Danes born after 31 December 1970. The move extends the country’s policy of linking the retirement age to life expectancy, a measure first introduced in 2006 and revised every five years.
Currently set at 67, the official retirement age will increase to 68 by 2030 and to 69 in 2035 before reaching 70 five years later.
Despite the bill’s passage, Denmark’s Social Democrat Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, has expressed doubts over the long-term sustainability of the sliding scale model. “We no longer believe that the retirement age should be increased automatically,” she said last year, adding, “you can’t just keep saying that people have to work a year longer.”
The policy shift has sparked criticism and protests, particularly among blue-collar workers.
Tommas Jensen, a 47-year-old roofer, told local media the change was “unreasonable” for those in physically demanding jobs.
“We’re working and working and working, but we can’t keep going,” he said. “There should also be time to be with children and grandchildren.”
Trade unions have staged demonstrations in Copenhagen in recent weeks opposing the policy. Jesper Ettrup Rasmussen, chairman of a Danish trade union confederation, called the law “completely unfair” ahead of the vote.
“Denmark has a healthy economy and yet the EU’s highest retirement age,” he said. “A higher retirement age means that [people will] lose the right to a dignified senior life.”
Several European countries have also increased their retirement ages to cope with ageing populations and budget pressures. In Sweden, people can start claiming pension benefits at 63. Italy’s retirement age is 67, and based on life expectancy data, it may increase.
In the UK, the pension age is 66 for those born between 1954 and 1960, with further increases planned for younger cohorts.
France’s controversial move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 in 2023 led to widespread protests and was ultimately pushed through parliament by President Emmanuel Macron without a vote.
