Europe Faces a Retirement Crisis: Pension Systems Under Severe Strain

Demographic shifts across Europe are putting pension systems under mounting pressure. As life expectancy rises, the number of retirees grows while the number of contributors declines.

In many European countries, nearly one-quarter of the population is now over the age of 65.

In Germany and several other EU member states, two workers currently finance the pension of one retiree. This ratio is expected to worsen significantly in the coming years.

Although governments are trying to keep pension payments afloat by allocating increasingly large portions of their budgets to subsidies, the only long-term solution is widely seen as raising the retirement age. However, governments that attempt to introduce such reforms often face strong public backlash and are forced to retreat.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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