Retirement at 63 very popular
Number of early retirees continues to grow
08.06.2024, 02:00 a.m.
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While experts are calling for it to be abolished, retirement at 63 will continue to be in demand among long-term insured people in 2023. Figures from the German Pension Insurance show how many people are willing to accept reductions in order to retire earlier.
The number of early retirees continues to rise significantly. 279,000 long-term insured people took advantage of the “pension at 63” without deductions last year, reports the “Rheinische Post” with reference to unpublished data from the German pension insurance company. In the previous year, 2022, the number was still 262,000 insured people – an increase of 17,000.
The fact that many people do not value working longer is also reflected in the willingness of those without long-term insurance to retire before the regular retirement age. According to the pension insurance company, the number of older workers who accepted deductions in order to start their pension early also continued to increase in 2023: 243,862 people retired early with deductions, compared to around 20,000 fewer in the previous year (223,580).
Since 2012, the regular retirement age has been gradually increasing from 65 to 67 years. Anyone who wants to retire earlier must accept that their benefits will be permanently reduced by 0.3 percent for each month by which the start of the pension is brought forward.
A quarter accepts cuts
Last year, almost 244,000 people, or almost 26 percent of the total of almost 953,000 older people who went into old-age pension, accepted this. In 2022, the proportion was just as high, but significantly fewer people, 875,000, began their old-age pension. On average, the early pensions with deductions were claimed 30 months before reaching the normal retirement age last year. In 2011, the average was 36 months, with a significantly higher proportion of early pensions in all old-age pensions at 48 percent, according to pension insurance data.
Within the traffic light coalition, the FDP in particular is calling for the abolition of the retirement age of 63. It sets “wrong incentives that we cannot afford,” according to a presidium resolution from mid-May. Employers and pension experts are complaining of an emergency caused by a worsening shortage of skilled workers.