Data on average life expectancy confirm the increase in the retirement age

According to life expectancy data published this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the retirement age will rise to 66 years and seven months in 2025.

“In the three-year period 2021-2023, life expectancy at birth was estimated at 81.17 years,” INE reported, adding that the average life expectancy in this three-year period was estimated at 19.75 years for the entire population.

Information on life tables in Portugal for the period 2021-2023, published this Wednesday, confirms preliminary data on average life expectancy that were published at the end of last year and according to which the legal age of retirement without penalties is 66 years and seven months in 2025 is three months beyond the 2024 retirement age.

The calculated average life expectancy for the entire population of 81.17 years corresponds to an increase of 0.21 years (2.52 months) compared to the previous three years (80.96 years).

This indicator is calculated annually by INE and is used to calculate the retirement age for the following year, as well as to determine the threshold value dictated by the sustainability factor for early retirement in the current year.

So the data released this Wednesday also confirms that the reduction in the sustainability rate for those taking early retirement in 2024 is 15.8%.

This value represents an increase of two percentage points compared to that applied in 2023, given that this year, as well as 2022, the sustainability rate recorded an unprecedented decline since its inception, which was associated with high mortality among the most young people. elderly women during the years most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which dictated a decrease in life expectancy.

As well as reducing the sustainability factor, early retirement also has a reduction of 0.5% for each month ahead compared to the statutory or personal retirement age.