Singapore to raise retirement age reflecting global trend

Countries around the world are increasing retirement ages as they face demographic pressure and slowing economies

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  Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Great Britain's state pension age is 65, with plans to raise it to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2046.

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  Budapest, Hungary. The general retirement age is 64, but Hungary plans to raise the age to 65 by 2022. Getty

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  Ibiza, Spain. Retirement with pension is possible from 65 years if 36-and-a-half years of social security contributions are paid. Citizens can retire two years before state pension age as long as they have at least 33 years of contributions. AFP

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  Stockholm, Sweden. The retirement age in Norway, Sweden and Finland is flexible, with citizens able to take out their pension within a certain age range. In Sweden that range is 61 to 67 years with plans to increase the range to 63-69 by 2023. Getty

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  Sydney, Australia. The pension-eligible retirement age is rising on the continent from 66 now to 67 by 2023. Alamy

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  Toronto, Canada. Canadians can apply for and receive a full retirement pension at age 65 or receive it as early as age 60 with a reduction, or as late as age 70 with an increase. An outlier, the government has no plan in place to raise the retirement age. Getty

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  Iceland's Arctic Coast Way. The normal pension age for Icelanders is 67, which can be received in full with 40 years’ residency. Courtesy Lonely Planet

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  Honshu, Japan. Japan requires companies to allow employees to work until 65 but in practice most companies set a mandatory retirement age at 60, with an option of further five years’ work on reduced pay. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is working to increase the retirement age to 70 amid a labour crunch and ballooning pension costs, Reuters reported in April. Getty

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  Tromso, Norway. Norwegians can retire with a pension at 67. Pixabay

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  St Petersburg, Russia. For pension benefits, Russian men can retire at 60-and-a-half and women at 55-and-a-half, with the country aiming to extend the limit to 65 and 60 by 2028 for men and women, respectively. Getty

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  New York City, USA. American retirement age to receive Social Security - the national pension programme - is 66 for both men and women, set to go up to 67 by 2027. Getty

Singapore extended support for older workers of the ageing island nation as the current leadership of the city-state prepares to hand over reins to a new generation in the next few years.

The retirement age will be gradually raised to 65 from 62, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday in his annual National Day Rally speech. The re-employment age, where employers must offer work in the same organisation, will rise to 70 from 67.

Singapore will also increase pension-contribution rates for workers so that by 2030, any worker aged 60 or below will get the full rate, Mr Lee said.

The government is looking ahead to elections that must be held by 2021, and Mr Lee - son of the country’s founding leader - is preparing to hand power to new leaders “in the next few years”. The latest measures builds on support for Mr Lee’s government which has already set aside $4.4 billion (Dh16.2bn) this year for a fund that includes subsidised health care for those in their 60s.

The pledges come as the trade-dependent nation grapples with fears of a global recession and an intensifying rivalry between its two biggest trading partners. - the US and China. In the past week the government slashed its economic outlook for 2019 to a range of zero to 1 per cent growth, predicting what could be its most sluggish year in a decade, Bloomberg reported.

Singapore has among the lowest retirement ages in the world. However, as life expectancy increases, many countries plan to raise their retirement ages over the next decade.

In the UAE, where the average age of a worker is only 30, the retirement age for Emiratis is 49 and for expatriate residents is 60. Expatriates who are older than 60 are allowed to work up to the age of 65 after obtaining approval from the Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation or the Undersecretary. After the age of 60, labour cards are renewed annually, according to the UAE government website. Company owners do not have an age limit.

In the European Union, the most common retirement age is 65 years. Spain, Germany and France plan to raise their retirement age from 65 to 67 years, while 68 years in Britain and Ireland is the target, according to the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

In some countries, retirement age is different for men and women. Women have a lower retirement age because life expectancy tends to be longer for women but generally, as the retirement age rises, women’s retirement ages will be the same as those of men, the Finnish pension regulator found.

Following the address in Singapore, the opposition Singapore Democratic Party said Mr Lee had failed to show that citizens actually wanted to work longer.

“Many Singaporeans had hoped to hear bold and dynamic proposals to deal with the challenges facing us in a rapidly changing world with huge geopolitical challenges,” the SDP said in an emailed statement. “Unfortunately, I think we were disappointed.”

Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo said in March a higher retirement age would encourage workers and employers to invest in upgrading skills and adapting jobs for older workers. Raising the re-employment age would give companies more flexibility to reset work terms - like salary and job scope - to deal with business uncertainties, she said.