The French government has announced plans to increase the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64, triggering protests and strikes that have been ongoing since mid-January, according to CNN. French President Emmanuel Macron will use constitutional powers to enact the pension reform bill, which has been met with opposition from labor leaders and millions of citizens.
Recently, there was a large-scale protest in France involving more than 1.2 million people who marched against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to increase the retirement age to 64, according to The Guardian. The protest occurred just as rail workers and refinery staff initiated rolling strikes, and trade unions intensified their efforts to prevent the proposed pension reform from being implemented. This is a significant development in a long-standing and highly sensitive issue in France, where the right to retire at 62 with a full pension is deeply cherished. The protest is a clear demonstration of the public’s opposition to the government’s proposal and highlights the increasing social discontent over the rising cost of living.
The pension reform, a flagship legislation of Macron's second term, raises the retirement age by two years to 64, a change that has sparked widespread strikes and protests across France since January.https://t.co/Qi3bJKJqre
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 16, 2023
Despite the deeply cherished right to retire on a full pension at 62, France has one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world and spends nearly 14% of economic output on pensions, more than most other countries.
On the other side, the country with the highest retirement age in the world is Israel, where the legal retirement age for men and women is 67. Other countries with a high retirement age include Australia, Canada, and Norway, where the retirement age is gradually increasing to 67. However, it’s worth noting that the retirement age can vary depending on the specific pension scheme and the number of years of contributions made by the individual, and some countries have different retirement ages for men and women.
