"The subject is clearly topical, our aim is to do useful things for society, for political decision-makers, and when we saw the news moving towards pension reform, we wanted to contribute to the public debate with our surveys." As confirmed by Jérôme Hury, coordinator of Statec's 'Work and Social Cohesion' report, this 2025 edition devoted its thematic section to the ageing of the population. "We can indeed see that there is an ageing population in Luxembourg, but one that is still less significant than in the rest of our neighbouring countries or the European Union, and we also have a retirement age that is still relatively early, well below the European average and also below the legal age in Luxembourg."
Because in Luxembourg, the statutory retirement age is 65, but it is possible to retire earlier, particularly if you can prove that you have at least 480 months (i.e. 40 years) of compulsory insurance. The average age at which people took early retirement in 2024 was 60.2. This compares with 61.3 years for the European average.
"While population ageing is still a moderate phenomenon in Luxembourg (15% aged 65 and over in 2024 compared with 21.6% in the EU-27), it is on the increase. This phenomenon is the result of two main factors: a sustained fall in fertility (ageing from below) and longer life expectancy (ageing from above). On the other hand, this trend is being held back by the arrival of young working people via migration," adds the head of Statec's social statistics division.
Only half of 55-64 year-olds are working
The activity rate among 55-64 year-olds has risen by 57% since 2004, and working life has increased from 30 to 35 years. However, many people are leaving the labour market before the legal age, and only one in two residents aged 55-64 was still in work in 2023, i.e. half. In more detail, 76.9% of 55-59 year-olds were in work, a figure that falls to 22.9% for 60-64 year-olds, and only 4.4% of those aged 65 or over were in work in 2023. "Half of these 4.4% explain that they work for pleasure and the other half for financial need," adds the report's coordinator.
Keeping to his political neutrality and defending the idea of presenting figures and decision-makers drawing conclusions from them, Jérôme Hury does concede, however, that "in France we have an early retirement age, a system that will hold up as long as the ageing of the population is not as pronounced as in other countries, but which will not be sustainable indefinitely." Bringing the actual retirement age closer to the statutory minimum is therefore one of the government's avenues, "but there are others, such as increasing contributions, or promoting another funded pension system, but that is no longer within the remit of the Statec."
