Today’s fifty-somethings find out their retirement age a few years in advance, it can be over 65

Update: 17.05.2023 14:33

Prague – Today’s fifty-somethings find out their retirement age only a few years in advance. The upcoming recalculation of the retirement age limit based on the expected life expectancy of 50 years should apply to them, as for younger years. According to assumptions, they could therefore retire a little later than at the age of 65. It would apply to people born after 1966. Minister of Labor Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) and Director of the Department of Social Insurance of the Ministry of Labor Tomáš Machanec explained the upcoming changes to journalists.

Last Thursday, the government presented its package of measures to restore state finances and a proposal for changes to pensions. Pension expenses are rising sharply, the pension insurance system is in decline. According to the minister, without adjustments in the future either pensions paid would have to be reduced, levies and taxes would have to increase, or the state would have to continue borrowing for pensions. Postponing the retirement age should contribute to reducing deficits. According to the plan, it should be set anew according to the development of life expectancy every year for people who will be 50 years old. They should know when they will be able to retire at least 15 years in advance. Retirement should last an average of 21.5 years.

Today’s fifty-somethings will find out their retirement age after the approval of the legislation that will make the changes. They will only know it a few years in advance. “We will announce it to people over 50 in one moment. Some won’t find out 15 years in advance, that’s the truth. But we need to start with it,” said Jurečka.

Retirement age se shifts Now. It increases by two months a year for men, usually by four for women. According to the current law, it should stop at 65 years. Men, childless women and mothers of one child born in 1965 will be the first to retire at this age. For mothers of multiple children, the age limit of 65 should gradually reach 2036.

“For people born in 1966, it is assumed that their retirement age can be increased depending on whether their life expectancy at 50 years has shifted compared to the generation of 1965. When the law is approved from January 2025, only then will it be possible to communicate anything. We assume that there will be a one-time notification for seven or eight years that are 50 years old,” the head of the department specified. According to him, the age could be shifted by no more than two months in a year.

According to data of the statistical office, in 2015 fifty-year-old men had an average of 27.7 years and women 32.6 years ahead of them. In 2019, it was 28.4 years for men in their fifties and 33.3 years for women in their fifties. In four years, the life expectancy of people in their fifties has been extended by 0.7 years. Similarly, the retirement age could probably be raised as well. The Covid epidemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 and 2021. The year before, it was 26.2 years for fifty-year-old men and 31.8 years for women.

People can find out the retirement age and the amount received according to the current rules – i.e. without including the upcoming changes – in the pension application IDA. It is possible to log in with an electronic identity, such as a bank identity or a data mailbox. According to its spokeswoman Eva Davidová, the Ministry of Labor registers over two million accesses to the application.

Pension spending now accounts for around 30 percent of government spending. Last year almost 600 billion crowns were paid out, this year it could be roughly 90 billion more. The pension insurance deficit could amount to around 80 billion crowns. In the coming years, it could rise to several percent of GDP per year. The strongest years of Husák’s children from the 70s begin to retire in the 30s. There will be workers who contribute to pensions.