The Star Online/ANN - PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s retirement age of 60 is common worldwide but many countries are pushing the figure higher in tandem with a rise in the age of the population.
In an analysis carried out by The Star, information on the retirement age, life expectancy and the proportion of the elderly among the population in 153 countries were collected.
Sourced from United Nations data and news reports, the figures show that 60 is the single most common age for retirement among the countries surveyed.
A total of 62 countries set 60 as the retirement age, while the second most common age is 65, which is in place in 35 countries.
In Asean, seven of the 10 countries in the bloc have a retirement age of 60.
On Tuesday, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad shot down a proposal by Malaysian Trades Union Congress for Malaysia to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65.
Within the region, Singapore has the highest retirement age at 62.
The proportion of Singapore’s elderly is, however, well above Malaysia.
According to the UN’s data, 20.9% of Singapore’s population will be age 60 and above next year, nearly double the 11% for Malaysia.
Two other Asean countries – Cambodia and Indonesia – set their retirement ages lower than Malaysia at 55 and 57, respectively.
Indonesia and Singapore have also reportedly announced plans to gradually raise their minimum retirement ages to 65 and above.
In Asia, the only other country with a retirement rate higher than Singapore is Japan at 65.
While Malaysia, which is an “upper-middle-income” country, Singapore and Japan are both classified as “high-income nations”.
Rich countries where the people enjoy relatively longer lives make up the bulk of nations where the retirement age is at 65 and above.
They include the Netherlands, which has the highest retirement age among the countries surveyed at 68, as well as Denmark and Norway, which both fixed theirs at 67.
One of the common features among these high-income countries is a life expectancy of about 80 years and above.
They also tend to have a big proportion of the elderly with those aged 60 and above making up more than 20% of their populations.
Among the 44 upper-middle income countries in the analysis (which includes Malaysia), there is a 50-50 split between those that set their retirement ages below 60 and those that set it higher (see table).
In general, upper-middle-income countries that set the retirement age above 60 have bigger proportions of the elderly in their population.
