Retirement age has no bearing on life expectancy…unless you are forced to work, according to an Australian scientific study that analyzed Norwegian demographic data from 1990 to 2010.
This new survey from the Australian School of Business reveals that life expectancy is not linked to retirement age. It opposes some previous studies. Some concluded that people who retired young died earlier (due to loneliness and lack of physical and mental activity). Others than old retirees died younger because they were too subject to stress and effort.
To conduct their study, the researchers analyzed the demographic data of the Norwegian government from 1990 to 2010. Because, in the 1990s, a significant number of public and private sector companies in Norway gradually reduced the retirement age of employees aged 67 to 62. For the rest of the working population, the average retirement age remained at 67. When scientists compared the life expectancy of individuals in early retirement, to that of those who worked until age 67, they found no discernible difference.
Work more to avoid degenerative diseases
“Although it is tempting to link life expectancy to retirement age, the reality is that health status is the main determinant of age of death. said Professor John Piggott, professor of economics at the Australian School of Business.
” In reality “, he insists”when a person is forced to leave their job (or it is removed), they are more likely to sink into depression, lose their social networks and especially their main source of intellectual stimulation “.
A French study conducted by scientist Carole Dufoil of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) on the health records of more than 429,000 self-employed workers had already revealed that a person who retires at the age of 65 has a 15% greater chance of being protected from degenerative diseases than those who quit their job at 60.
The researchers claim that “ intellectual stimulation and engagement have a protective effect against dementia and degenerative diseases “.
