Anyone starting to take the state pension and without other financial means will almost certainly see their income go down and not up - even allowing for additional state payments for those on low incomes. The increase in state pension might then be seen as a blessing rather than a curse viewed in that light.

And before someone else says it, that is not how many will see it.

The other thing that has to be considered is how to finance the state pension. With people living longer and longer, they need to be financed through their pension more and more. When the UK OAP was set up, the average male life expectancy was 62. More than half of the working male population never received a penny. The average life expectancy for a male is now around 85 years. So compared with when it was set up, there is a massive gap in funding. This can be filled by having more and more contributors. Unfortunately with birth rates falling and the strong dislike of immigrants being allowed to go to the UK and entering the workforce, the trend is in the other direction. Then cherry on the icing of the cake, more young people are encouraged to go into further education where they make no contributions but are credited as if they had when their pension is calculated.

Much of this is as applicable to France as it is to the UK so the demand by Macron to increase pension age here can be seen is a similar light.

Put simply, the sums don't add up and none of the solutions are going to be found acceptable by large parts of the (voting) population
Increase in National insurance for those working.
Increase in general taxation - income tax, VAT or whatever.
Payment of National Insurance by those who have retired - as effectively happens in France.
Increase the age at which you can start to take a pension - you contribute for longer and withdraw for less time.
Combinations of the above.

All governments have ignored the ticking time bomb for decades.

The demographic crisis was first explained to me in the mid 80's, the situation was dire even then and clearly was going to get much much worse unless the retirement age was raised immediately to 70.

So it's not really a ticking time bomb but one that has been erupting for decades, most of my working life.

Could I propose another solution?  That the Amazons, Googles and Microsofts/Apples of this world (or their obscenely rich proprietors) are asked to contribute to a massive fund earmarked solely for that purpose. A sort of 'thankyou' from them to the people who made them obscenely rich in the first place    I can dream.....

Yes Aardvark, the French system has always been far better in that respect than the UK one aside from where the Syndicalistes have exploited it to the degree that it becomes laughable.


At the same time a good friend in the UK of the exact same age was starting a new career training to be a train driver and having been a farmer and then taxi driver was over the moon about it.

You are right that infant mortality will have skewed the figures but equally right that they made no contributions.. Despite that only 50% males did receive this new wonder pension. WW1 and later WW2 also played a part to ensure that a significant number of contributors never saw any pay-out.

Whilst this is only speculation at least there will be years of notice, the French government have put forward proposals that will see people having to delay their retirement starting this year!

People can and will argue whether this is fair or not but either the retirement age has to be put back or pension contributions will have to increase.

Many countries are looking to link the retirement age to life expectancy which may be the better way to go.    

It would be complicated and perhaps unfair but how and where you live does dramatically affect your life expectancy, Glasgow has the lowest male life expectancy in the UK at 73.1 so living your whole life there you lose 7 years compared to London and the SE which is quite shocking given the retirement age is now 67.