The average retirement age in Sweden has increased by over one year to 66, due to increased age limits in Sweden, according to a report by the Swedish Pensions Agency.

The average age for starting to draw a national pension was 66 years in 2023, an increase of 1.2 years compared to 2022, when the average retirement age was 64.8 years.

The three increased pension-related age limits came into force at the end of the year 2022/2023. These are an increase in the minimum age of drawing a general income-based pension from 62 to 63, an increase from age 65 to 66 at which the right to basic security starts, and an increase in the LAS (Employment Protection Act) age from 68 to 69.

However, the retirement age increase is expected to slow down this year, when people in the youngest group can start drawing their national pension at the age of 63.

Furthermore, the spread in the timing of retirement has also continued to increase with 77 per cent of the group born in 1938 drawing their pension at age 65. This has decreased with each younger group, of those born in 1958 only 22 per cent drew their pension at age 65, despite the increase in the guaranteed pension age.

Commenting on this Swedish Pensions Agency analyst, Alma Masic, said: “Those included in the cohort born in 1961 may have intended to draw their pension at age 62 but now had to wait until age 63 to draw their pension.

“This means that it is very likely that we will see an increase in pension withdrawals at age 63 in 2024, which will bring down the average retirement age.
“We have estimated that the retirement age falls to around 65.6 years, based on the behaviour we saw in the last retirement age increase in 2021.”

---