It's no secret that many European countries are raising retirement ages, while the expected duration of working life has also been increasing.
It's an issue that has sparked protests across the continent in recent years: France infamously broke out into mass, country-wide demonstrations and strikes in 2023 after then-Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne attempted to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The reform went through parliament, but the National Assembly later voted in 2025 to postpone its implementation until 2028, after the next French presidential election, to avoid another collapse in government.
In Romania, the government is raising women's retirement age to 65 from 63 by 2035, to match that of men, as part of wider pension reforms. It's also gradually raising the retirement age for judges and prosecutors to 65 — the earliest they can retire currently is their late 40s, depending on how long they've served.
Denmark's parliament has also passed a law raising the state pension age to 70 by the year 2040, in an attempt to tie it to increasing life expectancy, giving it one of the highest retirement ages in Europe.
