Europe's elderly face poverty

Footloose and fancy-free as a pensioner? There may be little chance of that in a future Europe. While more people are living longer, birth rates are dropping. And the eurozone crisis is contributing to the pinch. 

For countless people living in severe poverty or confronted with political repression in northern Africa, Europe seems to be the promised land. Thousands of them risk their lives illegally crossing the Mediterranean, hoping to reach the European continent. For them, increased discussions about the risks of the elderly in Europe facing poverty may seem rather theoretical. After all, the definition of "poor" could not be more different between a western European and someone from an African country in crisis.

Yet Europe is facing a situation that, while far removed from African circumstances, has been a great cause of concern for European Union governments for a while now.

Not only are demographic changes causing a strain on the social welfare systems as European citizens live longer and fewer babies are born, the eurozone crisis has also strapped EU governments.
In many European countries, the number of people of working age is dwindling, while unemployment is rising. The consequence is that payments from both state and private pension funds are dropping.

Read more: Europe's elderly face poverty | Europe | DW.DE | 05.01.2013

Netherlands push through sweeping pension reforms

The Dutch government will increase the retirement age, provide more flexibility around retirement and suspend contribution holidays in a new deal with employer and employee unions.

The sweeping reforms will increase the pension age from 65 today to 66 in 2020 and 67 in 2025. Meanwhile, there will be more flexibility around when to retire with individuals being allowed to continue working past 65, with every year they continue to work resulting in an increase in pension of 6.5%.

Gert Kloosterboer, spokesman at the Dutch Association of Industry-Wide Pension Funds (VB) said: "We're rather pleased this agreement is here. I think it can help the system be more sustainable in the future. We think what's on the table offers solutions for people living longer and solutions for the shocks of the financial markets."

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