'Pension age could inch up again': report

Swedes may again be facing additional years at work, with the official pension age hitting 69, if a government review expected in the spring goes from words to actions.

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A report in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper shows that both the minimum and maximum pension age might be raised.

In other words, the youngest age that a Swede can access the general pension system will no longer be 61. Swedes would instead have to wait until they are 63.

They will also have the right to keep working beyond the new pension age of 67, which now may end up being 69.

This would bring Sweden in line with Nordic neighbours Norway and Iceland, the two countries with the oldest pension age in all of Europe.

In the US, the upper pension age is 66 for citizens born before 1960, and 67 for those born later, according to OECD statistics. In France, the lower limit is 60, the upper limit 62.

For private pensions and certain types of service pensions, access is possible after the person turns 55, according to DN's review.

A government review of pensions lead by Ingemar Eriksson is currently underway. He declined to comment on any of the leaked figures, saying the report would be published in April.

Pensions have become a hot button topic in Sweden, after the right-of-centre government proposed inching up the age limits last year.

Employees in high-stress sectors such as nursing have said it is not physically possible for many healthcare providers to add years to their working lives.

The Swedish Pensions Authority's own statistics shows that Swedes who did not finish high school retire at an average age of 61.7, while Swedes who have gone onto further education retire at 63.4.

Swedes who have continued their studies and have done academic research work even longer, retiring on average at the age of 65.

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