The Age of Eligibility for Public Retirement Programs in the OECD

Summary

• All industrialized countries, particularly those in the OECD and including Canada, are experiencing an aging of their populations.
• Of the 22 high-income OECD countries apart from Canada, 18 of them (over 80 percent) (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are enacting increases in the age of eligibility for public retirement programs.
• Thirteen countries, or almost 60 percent (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are increasing their age of eligibility for public retirement programs to 67 years old or older; 2 of these (Ireland and the United Kingdom) are moving to 68 years, and Iceland is moving to 70 years.
• Five countries are indexing their age of eligibility with life expectancy, meaning that the age of eligibility will be automatically adjusted as life expectancy changes.
• Four countries in addition to Canada are retaining the status quo with no reforms: Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
• In 2015, Canada’s federal government reversed a 2012 reform that would have increased the age of eligibility for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement to 67 by 2029. The federal government estimates that this policy reversal will cost $10.4 billion in 2030.