Retirement Age on the Rise: Political and Social Resistance

If the fiscal case for raising retirement ages has grown stronger, the political case remains fraught. Few policies stir public anger more than delaying pension eligibility. Older workers, especially those in physically demanding jobs, argue that it is unfair to expect them to keep working while white-collar professionals can extend their careers more easily.

Ireland illustrates the point vividly. The government raised the retirement age to 66 in 2014, with plans for further increases to 67 and then 68 by 2028. Yet the issue has dominated elections, with some parties even calling for a rollback to 65. As one Irish voter put it during a radio call-in: “It’s a bridge too far, and they thought they’d get away with it.” Similar anger erupted in France in 2023, when more than a million people protested President Macron’s decision to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.

Canada, too, has wrestled with this debate. The statutory age to receive Old Age Security (OAS) remains 65, but recent policy reviews have reignited discussions about whether that age should rise. A decade ago, the federal government attempted to raise OAS eligibility to 67, only for the measure to be reversed in 2016. Since then, fiscal watchdogs like the Parliamentary Budget Officer have repeatedly warned that the costs of OAS and the Canada Pension Plan will climb sharply as the population ages. 18.5% of Canadians are now 65+, with the 85+ group growing rapidly,  which raises the cost of OAS, health, and long-term care.

Attempts to raise the OAS eligibility to 67 years in past were reversed (2016), so there is Precedent in Canada of political backlash. And that while no major party has committed recently to raising the OAS eligibility age, the cost and demographic projections (especially shrinking contributor-beneficiary ratio) mean that the question is circulating.

 From Debate to Implementation

Still, the big change between 2020 and 2025 is that many governments are no longer merely debating reforms — they are implementing them. Mechanisms that automatically tie retirement age to demographic or life-expectancy measures are increasingly common, reducing the need for repeated political battles. Policymakers argue this creates predictability for future retirees while preserving fiscal sustainability.

• Denmark: Pension age legislated to rise to 70 by 2040, tied to life expectancy.
• China: Sweeping reforms to gradually increase retirement age over the next 15 years.
• Czechia: Retirement age pushed higher for future cohorts, with lower benefits for younger workers.
• United States: Social Security full retirement age creeping upward; proposals for further automatic increases.