A record number of Swedish state workers are staying in work after their 67th birthday following increases to the target retirement age, according to the Swedish national government employee pensions board, SPV.

The minimum age for receiving a state pension in Sweden rose from 62 to 63 in January 2023, while the upper age limit for working increased to 69 (formerly 68), under the Employment Protection Act (known as LAS).

Since the LAS age was raised in 2020 and 2023, the number of employees aged 67 or older has soared. There were around 100 employees in the 67 or older group in 2020, before the first LAS increase. Currently, after two increases, the number has risen to around 2,000 – in other words an increase of some 1,900 per cent.

The results of changes to the LAS can also be seen in figures related to occupational pensions withdrawals.

According to SPV, around one third (31 per cent) of government employees chose to withdraw their occupational pension at age 67 or older in 2024, compared with 15 per cent in 2020.

At the other end of the age scale, fewer people are opting to withdraw before the age of 65, the statistics showed. Today, 26 per cent of people aged 65 or younger opt to withdraw, while in 2020 the proportion of people withdrawing a pension before 65 was 35 per cent.

According to SPV, a larger proportion of men than women draw their occupational pension at age 67 or later – although these differences have shrunk over time and today the two groups are almost balanced out.

From 2008 to 2024, the proportion of men in the group has fallen from 67 per cent to 52 per cent. The proportion of women has increased from a third (33 per cent) to close to half (48 per cent.)

State education workers are more likely to take their pension after 67 compared with other groups. Almost half (49 per cent) take their occupational pension at the age of 67 or later. By comparison, only 18 per cent of those working in social protection and administration of justice waited until 67 or older to withdraw a pension.

Conversely, the latter group are far more likely to take their pensions earlier, with 40 per cent doing so before the age of 65. In education, this figure falls to 13 per cent.

The figures show a clear correlation with the changes to target retirement ages, said SPV statistician Helén Högberg.

“The number of withdrawals at the age of 61 and 62 was more than halved when the minimum withdrawal age for public pension was raised to 63,” she commented.

“We also see that the majority of those who withdraw their occupational pension at those ages have a comparatively high pension base, that is, a high income. This was not the case before 2023.”

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