WP 48 - Population ageing in the Netherlands: Demographic and financial arguments for a balanced approach

Population ageing in the Netherlands: Demographic and Financial arguments for a balanced approach

What is significant are the disparities in life expectancy in good health - that is, the years in which
people perceive themselves as healthy. At birth, men with the lowest educational attainment cannot
expect on average to live more than 53 years in good health, much less than the retirement age of
65; the most highly educated men, at 69 years, have almost an additional 16 years. For women, the
differences between high and low educational attainment are not much smaller in this respect. At 20
years, the start of working life, the differences are not much smaller but they then drop sharply at
50 and 65 years. Evidently, the effects materialise at a later age. It would appear that the less-well
educated with a lower healthy life expectancy fall away at an earlier age than those who are highly
educated. It implies that those with little education run a greater risk on balance of paying
contributions to the AOW and occupational pensions over a long period without themselves being
able to enjoy the benefits.

Unfortunately, these are calendar-based data, as cohort data are unavailable. Nevertheless, the
changes according to age can be a useful indicator. The low healthy-life expectancy of the less
educated helps us understand the recent opposition of the trade unions to a uniform pension age, as
expressed by the recent abolition of early retirement, and the proposals to push up the retirement
age for AOW. Health arguments should not be omitted from this discussion. Turner also proposes
raising the retirement age in the British pension system but only with provisions for such disparities.

AIAS - UvA

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