Workers in Denmark have been rocked by the news that the government has approved raising the retirement age to 70 – the highest in Europe.
For now, the Danish can retire with their public pension at 67, but that threshold will gradually climb to 70 by 2040. Reports indicate that some Danes are unhappy with the decision, with protests taking place in the capital, Copenhagen, in the lead-up to the vote in May.
Across the world, retirement ages increase because people live longer, placing strain on pension systems. Fewer workers support more retirees, prompting reforms to ensure financial sustainability. Longer work lives boost productivity and tax revenue.
However, this shift can disadvantage those in physically demanding jobs or with health issues who can’t delay retirement, experts have explained to Newsweek.
Retirement in the U.S.
The news from Denmark comes as the U.S. full retirement age (FRA) also changes, albeit to 67, for those born in 1960 and after. The FRA has been steadily rising since legislation was passed by Congress in 1983, a move made to help shore up the Social Security trust funds that pay benefits to more than 70 million Americans in 2025.
This means that anyone claiming benefits before reaching this age will face a permanent financial penalty, reducing their Social Security payments for the rest of their life. If retiring at 67, older Americans can get their full insurance amount, and if they retire later, they can get even more.
Even as the U.S. retirement age has already crept up, some lawmakers have indicated they want it raised even further. The Republican Study Committee, comprising 170 GOP lawmakers, published a budget proposal in 2024 that advocated for “modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees, to account for increases in life expectancy”—raising the retirement age to 69. In December, Senator Rand Paul introduced an amendment to the Social Security Fairness Act to raise the full retirement age all the way to 70, proposing three-month annual increases until reaching that threshold, but it was not adopted.
These have been touted as solutions to the looming Social Security funding issue. As it stands, in 2035, the funds that help pay for benefits along with payroll taxes will run dry, forcing a 17 percent across-the-board cut in benefit payments unless Congress acts to shore up the system by increasing its revenue, reducing benefits or a combination of both. Other options include raising payroll taxes, cutting benefits for future recipients, or a combination of all three.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that increasing the FRA to 70 would address roughly half of the system’s 75-year shortfall.
“Raising the retirement age is part of the solution, but not a standalone fix,” Jeremy Clerc, co-founder and CEO of Assists and a contributing writer at Assisted Living Magazine, told Newsweek, given the huge impact it could have on future retirees.
Steep, Dangerous and Complex
Regardless of whether raising the retirement age is chosen as the path to helping Social Security toward longstanding solvency, a later FRA could see different types of workers face potentially unfair disparities.
“Not everyone reaches their late 60s in the same shape — physically, financially, or emotionally,” Clerc said. “In senior living, we see the disparities up close. For some, two extra years of work is manageable; for others, it’s a steep, even dangerous, climb. Reform needs to reflect that complexity.”
For Clerc, the answer is clear. “Absolutely—and significantly so,” Clerc said when asked whether lower-income and blue-collar workers would suffer disproportionately. “They live shorter lives, reducing their years to collect benefits. They’re also more likely to perform physically demanding, manual labor, which limits the ability to work longer.”
Jonathan Price, senior vice president and retirement practice leader at benefits consultancy Segal, agrees. “Delaying Social Security’s retirement age will put additional stress on those in physically demanding roles,” he explained to Newsweek. “They will likely need to drop out of the labor force and claim Social Security prior to the new retirement age.
“Delaying Social Security normal retirement age would likely have an oversized impact,” particularly on those who are forced to retire and claim benefits earlier than 67 – or in a raised FRA scenario, 69.
Clerc said that raising the FRA could slash average lifetime benefits by nearly 20 percent, according to research from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“It’s hard to justify asking a warehouse worker or home health aide to stay on the job into their late 60s or 70s,” he said. “These are the same people who burn out early, face chronic pain, and often die younger—yet they’d be the ones asked to wait longer for benefits they’ve paid into their whole lives.”
Price warns that policy changes could also ripple through the workforce in unexpected ways.
“If SSA’s retirement ages were to be delayed, then Americans may need to work longer,” he said. “What impact will that have on their employers, opportunities for colleagues moving up through the ranks, and overall labor participation? People and organizations will need time to prepare for those types of changes. It’s going to be a big adjustment.”
How Do Americans Feel?
Despite repeated calls from some policymakers to raise the retirement age, most Americans aren’t buying it. Polls conducted in recent years indicate strong opposition to a higher FRA. A Data For Progress survey from 2023 found that only 8 percent of voters supported the idea of raising the FRA over 67.
Clerc said that if it were to happen, it requires being done with care and that raising the retirement age “must be implemented gradually, equitably, and as part of a holistic reform package.”
“If we push people to work longer, we need to think about what that means—for them, for their families, and for the economy,” Price said.
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