The bar charts compare the retirement age of males and females from seven European nations in 2004 and 2008.
In general, most countries saw an increase in the retirement age of both genders, except for Italy. It is also of note that the Swedish had to work for longer years, compared to other nations.
Regarding the statistics for men, the Swedish had to work until they were above 63 years old in both 2004 and 2008, with a slight increase in retirement age. Likewise, the average age that citizens of both Netherlands and UK retired also rose to the same extent, from more than 62 to exactly 63 years old. A similar upward pattern can be seen in male retirement age in Denmark and France, though the disparity between two years was greater in the latter country. However, this difference was nowhere near that of Germany, with a sharp rise from 61 to 62 years old. In contrast, the retirement age for Italian men remained unchanged, at 60 years old in each year.
Unlike their male colleagues, the retirement age of female workers significantly increased by roughly a half-year from 2004 to 2008. Other nations, except for France and Denmark, also witnessed a similar increase in their female retirement age, though their figures were lower, with the highest belonging to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the female retirement age in Denmark rose moderately to 59 years old in 2008. Conversely, there was a slight decline from nearly 60 to above 59 years old in the age when Italian women retired.