The majority (87 per cent) of Danes to some extent agree that if the retirement age does not increase as much as previously planned in the future, greater pension savings will be required and saving for retirement must be made politically more attractive, research from Sampension has found.

Sampension said there has been a focus on whether the increase in retirement age should be moderated in the future.

This would mean that the Danes' pension savings in the future will have to be sufficient for a longer retirement, and therefore the gain from saving for a pension must also be increased at the same time.

Sampension CEO and director, Hasse Jørgensen, said: “It is of course a political matter whether the retirement age should not increase as much in the future as has otherwise been planned.

“But if it becomes a reality, then the Danes have the prospect of getting a longer period of time on pension, which, all things being equal, will make greater demands on pension savings in the future.

“Therefore, if you want to slow down the rate of increase in the retirement age, you should also look at the possibilities of correspondingly increasing the incentive to save."

Given this, Jørgensen said it would be “obvious” to consider an increase in the additional deduction for contributions to tax-deductible pension schemes, for example, instalment pensions and annuities, which the Pensions Commission has also previously proposed.

The recommendation was the deduction be increased from 12 per cent to 15 per cent for people with more than 15 years until the national pension age and from 32 per cent to 38 per cent for people with less than 15 years until the state pension age.

Sampension research showed that earlier withdrawal from the labour market required extra pension savings.

The calculations were based on a 40-year-old saver with an annual salary of DKK 400,000, pension payments of 15 per cent, and pension savings of DKK 600,000. If the person retired at 70 instead of 71 and wanted the same pension income, the saver must pay around DKK 630 extra into their pension savings until retirement.

Jørgensen said that at regular intervals it has been proposed Danes should have the opportunity to use some of their pension savings in working life, for example for a home purchase and further education.

He acknowledged that Danes were on the way to saving too much for retirement, therefore there was no need to increase the savings further in the future.

However, he said: “It is important to state that the picture painted of general over-saving among the Danes, which supposedly also enables the savings to be used for various purposes before retirement, is very far from the world of reality.

"On the contrary, even with the current pension system, which is one of the best in the world, there will be many Danes who in the future have the prospect of a significant drop in living standards as pensioners.

“And if, on top of that, the pension savings are to last for a longer retirement, then there is a need for increased savings in the future. It goes without saying.”

Given this, Jørgensen also pointed out lower private pension savings will also have a greater impact on public benefits.

In Denmark, the state pension age will rise to 68 in 2030 and 69 in 2035. According to the government's legislative programme, politicians must decide in February 2025 whether the state pension age should rise to 70 in 2040.

---