Spain’s retirement age set to rise to 67 by 2027

CGTN Europe

Spain is part of the southern Europe region where the oldest population in the world lives, with 21% of people over 65.   This coupled with decreasing birth rates has meant the Spanish government is raising the age of retirement.   CGTN’s Ken Browne headed to Madrid to find out how Spanish people feel

Transcript

00:00Petank, or Petanka, as it's called here in Spain.

00:06A type of bowling game loved in Spain and France.

00:10Here in Madrid, Don Alejandro Diaz is enjoying a day with friends.

00:19My name is Alejandro, I retired back in 2013 and I started working when I was just 16,

00:25so I was working for over 40 years.

00:28I would recommend everyone to retire when the time comes.

00:31Work, save your money and then retire.

00:33Have fun and enjoy life. You've earned it.

00:39Spain has a lot to offer retirees with over 300 days of sunshine and a relatively low cost of living.

00:46It's also part of a southern Europe region that has the oldest population in the world

00:51with more than 21% of people over 65.

00:56We're living longer, which is a good thing.

00:58By 2030, the WHO says that one in six of us will be over 60.

01:03But we're also having fewer children and that's a problem,

01:07because if we're all old, who pays for healthcare and pensions?

01:12On average, OECD economies spend around 8% of GDP a year on pensions.

01:17And to try and balance the books, Spain is raising its retirement age to 67 by 2027.

01:25Globally, experts say future planning is key to managing this issue.

01:30Well, the good thing of demographics is that it's a process that can be forecasted.

01:37So we can have a fair certainty about what will be the trends for the next,

01:42not only 10 and 5 years, but 20 to 50 years almost.

01:49The point of Petang is to get as close to the target as possible.

01:53And governments are resetting their targets to make sure pensions will be paid far into the future.

01:59For Alejandro Diaz, these extra working years should be used wisely.

02:09I think those additional working years added should serve more as mentoring years

02:13to teach new young employees, passing on their knowledge and experience.

02:23Living longer now means that we probably have to work longer too.

02:27And keeping both the younger and older generations happy is the challenge for governments worldwide.

02:33Ken Brown, CGTN, Madrid.

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