At what age do workers retire?
Some 84 thousand Dutch employees retired in 2022. Twenty-eight percent of them were younger than 65. Most of them, 63 percent, retired at age 65 or 66 years. Slightly more than 9 percent were 67 or older when they retired.
Just under half of employees who retirednoot1 in 2022 were younger than the Dutch state pension age – 66 years and 7 months in that year. Forty percent retired a maximum of two months before or two months after reaching the state pension age. The remainder (11 percent) were older than the state pension age.
Until 2013, the age at which people in the Netherlands were entitled to state pension was 65 years. From that year, the state pension age underwent a stepwise increase. In 2006 around nine in ten employees who retired were younger than the state pension age. From 2007 the share retiring before this age gradually decreased.
| Jaar | Before state pension age | At state pension age | After state pension age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 87.4 | 8.6 | 4.1 |
| 2007 | 83.1 | 11.4 | 5.5 |
| 2008 | 82.0 | 12.6 | 5.4 |
| 2009 | 77.9 | 14.8 | 7.3 |
| 2010 | 75.3 | 17.1 | 7.6 |
| 2011 | 67.3 | 25.7 | 7.0 |
| 2012 | 61.7 | 29.5 | 8.9 |
| 2013 | 55.3 | 33.0 | 11.6 |
| 2014 | 53.6 | 35.4 | 11.0 |
| 2015 | 49.3 | 40.7 | 10.0 |
| 2016 | 48.5 | 40.5 | 11.1 |
| 2017 | 46.5 | 42.3 | 11.1 |
| 2018 | 45.3 | 43.6 | 11.1 |
| 2019 | 47.4 | 40.5 | 12.0 |
| 2020 | 39.8 | 48.2 | 12.0 |
| 2021* | 42.9 | 47.6 | 9.5 |
| 2022* | 48.8 | 39.8 | 11.4 |
| *Provisional figures | |||
Retirement age over 65 years in all industries
Dutch employees retired at an average age of 65.6 years in 2022. Average retirement age was lowest in public administration, 65.1 years, followed by healthcare and education. It was highest on average in agriculture, forestry and fishery – 66.6 years – followed by other services, other business services, and trade. Last year (2022) was the first year in which the average employee retirement age was higher than 65 years in all sectors of industry.
Differences between industries in average retirement have become smaller in the course of time. In 2006, the difference between sectors with the highest and those with the lowest retirement ages was over 4 years. By 2012 it had fallen to 2.5 years, and in 2022 it was only 1.5 years.
| Bedrijfstak | 2022* | 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65.6 | 60.9 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fisheries |
66.6 | 62.2 |
| Rental, other business services |
66.4 | 62.5 |
| Other services | 66.4 | 62.1 |
| Trade | 66.3 | 62.0 |
| Information and communication |
66.2 | 60.7 |
| Accommodation and food services |
66.1 | 61.7 |
| Culture, sports and recreation |
66.1 | 62.2 |
| Transportation and storage | 66.0 | 60.6 |
| Specialised business services |
66.0 | 62.1 |
| Mining and quarrying and manufacturing |
65.9 | 61.2 |
| Water companies and waste management |
65.7 | 59.5 |
| Energy supply | 65.5 | 58.4 |
| Construction | 65.5 | 60.8 |
| Real estate activities | 65.5 | 61.0 |
| Financial services | 65.4 | 60.2 |
| Education | 65.4 | 61.2 |
| Care and welfare | 65.2 | 60.5 |
| Public administration and public services |
65.1 | 59.9 |
| *Provisional figures | ||
Working beyond retirement age
According to the NEA surveynoot2, most employees aged 45 to 64 years in 2022 said they would be willing to work beyond the state pension age. This did depend on certain conditions though. Workers aged 45 to 54 years are more open to working to older ages (85 percent said they may consider this) than 55 to 64‑year-olds (73 percent).
The option of working shorter hours was the most mentioned condition under which people would be willing to continue to work to older ages. More 45 to 54‑year-olds (52 percent) than 55 to 64‑year-olds (43 percent) mentioned this. Many employees also said they would consider working beyond retirement age if they could do lighter work, and if the financial consequences of retirement were unfavourable.
| Redenen | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Option to work shorter hours | 49.6 |
| Do lighter work (physically/mentally) |
22.5 |
| Quitting more unfavourable financially |
21.8 |
| Health | 11.8 |
| Do not know | 11.7 |
| More challenge or satisfaction from work |
10.0 |
| Employer/colleagues support working longer |
9.4 |
| Family/friends support working longer |
6.0 |
| Fewer caring responsibilities for family or other loved ones |
6.0 |
| Retraining/upskilling | 4.9 |
| Other circumstances | 3.2 |
| Unwilling to work longer under any circumstances |
23.8 |
| 1)45-64 yrs, multiple answers possible | |
Relevant link
News release – Average retirement age of employees: 65 years and 8 months
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Noten
Retiring employees
A person aged 55 years or older, officially resident in the Netherlands, who has wages as main source of personal income in November at the beginning of the survey period and pension as main source of income the following November. Pension includes payments under the state old age pensions act (AOW), work-related pension, widows and orphans benefits, annuities, and payments under the Surviving Dependants Act (ANW).
Director-major shareholders are not included in these figures. They are viewed as self-employed.
The retirement age is age in years and months at the end of the first month for which pension is the main source of income.
Data in this article on willingness to work beyond state pension age and the conditions under which/reasons why people would be willing to do so are taken form the national working conditions survey (NEA) conducted by CBS and TNO.