Rome – Anyone who wants to retire in Italy has to work longer and longer to do so. The actual retirement age has been rising for years, and policymakers are engaged in intense debate about the system’s sustainability. Currently, the age requirement for the standard old-age pension is 67, combined with at least 20 years of contributions.
But that’s not all. Because the retirement age is automatically linked to rising life expectancy, the threshold will continue to rise in the coming years—in several steps toward 67 years and six months by the end of the decade. Anyone who wants to retire earlier will need very long contribution periods: men must have paid into the system for over 42 years, and women for just under 42 years.
Pensions in Italy: The Gap Between North and South
Behind the national average lie significant regional differences. In the economically strong regions of the north, employment histories look different than in the south, where interrupted careers and precarious employment push back the actual retirement age.
This is a contentious issue in the debate over the future of retirement benefits. While raising the retirement age eases the burden on the pension funds, it particularly affects those who started working early and did physically demanding work. How Italy resolves this dilemma is likely to remain one of the central social policy issues in the coming years.
