A study carried out by the HR services provider SD Worx has found that most Belgians feel that 60 is the best age at which to retire. Nevertheless, they expect to have to continue working until they are 65. 20 years ago most Belgians believed that 56 was the idea age at which to retire.
Belgians dream of retiring at 60, but expect to have to carry on working until they are 65
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SD Worx surveyed 1,000 working Belgians about what they thought is the best age at which to retire and when they thought that they would actually retire. The results show that as was the case when the last such survey was carried out in 2004, the gap between what is perceived to be the ideal age at which to retire and the expected retirement age has remained constant.
However, both the desired and expected retirement ages has increased during the past 20 years. The Head of SD Worx’s Research Centre Bart Pollentier told VRT News that “This is because for a long time now people have been told by the government that we need to work for longer and people accept this”.
The responses differ between the various age groups. The younger the respondent, the earlier they want to retire.
Bart Pollentier says that “This could be because people adjust their expectations as they get older. Or it could be that younger people don’t look any further than 20 years into the future”. However, although younger people want to retire earlier. There is little difference between them and other age demographics regarding the age at which they actually expect to retire. Those that are already over the age of 65 and still in work of course expect to retire later.
People that are happy with their job want to carry on working for longer
The survey also shows that those with a high level of job satisfaction are prepared to carry on working for longer. Those with high levels of job satisfaction say that they would like a career lasting 30 years. Those that are not happy with their jobs would like to stop work after 25 years. Accord to figures from 2020 that SD Worx has at its disposal the average career in Belgium lasts 31 years.
Bart Pollentier adds that it is crucial that employees and employees work together to keep people motivated once they reached a more advanced age. Currently 54.6% of people in Belgium aged between 55 and 66 are in employment. The High Council for Finance says that in order to meet the costs incurred by the aging population the employment rate among this age demographic needs to rise to 69.2% by 2050.
Retirement at 65
The survey shows that younger people too expect to be able to retire at 65. Currently 65 is the legal retirement age. However, from next year this will become 66, rising to 67 from 2030. Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that the actual age at which Belgians retire is on average much lower that the legal retirement age. The OECD’s figures show that on average Belgians currently retire at the age of 61.