Average effective age of retirement for women by country

Estimates are based on a weighted average of changes in labour force participation rates by age, for workers 40+

Countries reporting

Highest

72.3 years

South Korea

Lowest

53.7 years

Saudi Arabia

Median

63.35 years

Years covered

1970–2018

Data points

2,055

What the numbers show

Average effective age of retirement for women is currently reported for 46 countries. The highest value is 72.3 years in South Korea; the lowest is 53.7 years in Saudi Arabia.

The median across all reporting countries is 63.35 years, and the mean is 63.47 years.

Over the past decade 38 countries rose and 8 fell. The largest increase was in Slovakia (up 8.1%), and the largest decrease in Mexico (down 9.6%).

Average effective age of retirement for women: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	South Korea	72.3 years	2018	up 4.0%	rising
2	Indonesia	72 years	2018	down 1.2%	flat
3	Japan	69.1 years	2018	up 3.3%	flat
4	Romania	67.1 years	2018	up 3.1%	flat
5	Chile	66.7 years	2018	down 1.8%	flat
6	United States	66.5 years	2018	up 3.6%	flat
6	Mexico	66.5 years	2018	down 9.6%	falling
8	New Zealand	66.4 years	2018	up 3.3%	flat
9	Israel	66 years	2018	up 4.3%	flat
10	Iceland	65.9 years	2018	up 0.6%	falling
11	Estonia	65.7 years	2018	up 1.7%	flat
12	Portugal	65.4 years	2018	up 0.2%	falling
12	Sweden	65.4 years	2018	up 3.6%	flat
14	Switzerland	65 years	2018	up 0.9%	falling
15	Turkey	64.9 years	2018	up 0.9%	rising
16	Latvia	64.7 years	2018	up 3.7%	rising
17	Australia	64.3 years	2018	up 4.7%	flat
17	Argentina	64.3 years	2018	up 1.4%	falling
19	Norway	64.1 years	2018	down 0.3%	falling
21	Canada	64 years	2018	up 3.9%	flat
22	United Kingdom	63.6 years	2018	up 2.7%	flat
22	Germany	63.6 years	2018	up 5.5%	flat
24	Finland	63.4 years	2018	up 4.4%	flat
25	Brazil	63.3 years	2018	up 0.2%	falling
26	Lithuania	63 years	2018	up 6.1%	rising
27	Denmark	62.5 years	2018	up 0.3%	falling
27	Netherlands	62.5 years	2018	up 2.3%	falling
29	Cyprus	62.4 years	2018	up 0.3%	falling
30	India	62.3 years	2018	down 5.7%	falling
31	China	62 years	2010	up 5.1%	rising
32	South Africa	61.7 years	2018	down 0.6%	falling
33	Italy	61.5 years	2018	up 4.9%	flat
34	Bulgaria	61.4 years	2018	up 1.0%	flat
36	Czechia	61.3 years	2018	up 4.3%	rising
36	Spain	61.3 years	2018	down 2.7%	falling
39	Croatia	61.1 years	2018	up 2.9%	rising
40	France	60.8 years	2018	up 2.4%	falling
40	Austria	60.8 years	2018	up 5.7%	falling
42	Poland	60.6 years	2018	up 4.5%	falling
43	Belgium	60.5 years	2018	up 2.0%	flat
44	Russia	60.2 years	2018	up 0.5%	rising
45	Slovenia	60.1 years	2018	up 5.1%	rising
46	Greece	60 years	2018	down 0.7%	falling
46	Hungary	60 years	2018	up 2.7%	falling
48	Slovakia	59.9 years	2018	up 8.1%	rising
49	Saudi Arabia	53.7 years	2017	up 0.9%	flat

About this data

Indicator: Average effective age of retirement for women
Unit: years
Source: OECD (2018) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 49 places, 2,055 data points, 1970–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Estimates are based on a weighted average of changes in labour force participation rates by age, for workers 40+