How the U.S. Retirement Age Compares to Other Countries

The full retirement age (FRA) in the United States is 66, or 67, depending on the year you were born. According to an article by Yahoo! Finance, most Americans feel that’s too late in life. They’d like to retire by 62 years of age, but that is unlikely to happen — especially with the Social Security trust fund facing a deficit and eliciting calls for possibly raising the retirement age.

While many workers would like to see the retirement age lowered, it seems the U.S. is on par with other countries. According to the article, the statutory retirement age will be 67 next year in the Netherlands; it’s already 67 in Israel and Italy; the United Kingdom is considering raising its state pension age to 68; the retirement age is 65 in Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico; Japan is slowly increasing its retirement age until it reaches 65 in 2031; and France just raised its retirement age from 62 to 64.   

The Seniors Trust is committed to improving the financial well-being of America’s retirees through the passage of The Social Security Expansion Act. It will give retirees an immediate benefits increase of about $200 a month, a fair annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), and increased minimum benefits.