Generally, the official retirement age in India is fixed at sixty years. Earlier, it used to be fifty-eight. There are even discussions from time to time about increasing the retirement age further from sixty to sixty-two years.
The Official Retirement Age
If we compare India with many other countries, we find that the retirement age here is relatively lower.
In the United Kingdom, the retirement age is currently sixty-six and is expected to increase to sixty-seven by 2026. Similarly, countries such as the United States, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and Italy have fixed the retirement age at sixty-seven years.
France too increased its retirement age in 2023 from sixty-two to sixty-four years. When the French government announced this decision, widespread protests took place across the country. The new French retirement law also includes another provision—that a person must have contributed for at least forty-three years in order to receive full retirement benefits.
One major reason behind increasing retirement ages worldwide is the rise in life expectancy. In India, average life expectancy was around 62.27 years in 2000, which increased to approximately 67.24 years by 2021.
If we are physically and mentally capable of working, then why should retirement necessarily become compulsory?
So far, we have discussed retirement from a technical and employment-related perspective. But there are also many people who may not have held formal jobs, yet they too continue growing older with time. When should such individuals retire? And what exactly is the relationship between retirement and health? These questions deserve serious thought.
The Social Age of Retirement
In earlier times, people traditionally moved into the Vanaprastha stage of life after a certain age. But perhaps that system belonged to an era of large joint families. Today, when people increasingly live in smaller or isolated family units, such transitions are not always practically possible.
Still, keeping one’s health and circumstances in mind, everyone should establish some personal boundaries regarding retirement. Otherwise, who will stand beside us during the final phase of life?
I once came across an interesting incident.
Someone was asked what they had achieved in life. The person proudly replied that he had accumulated wealth and property, ensured his children’s marriages, and fulfilled all his responsibilities successfully.
Then he was asked another question: “At this stage of life, do you have even four companions who can sit with you and spend time with you?”
His answer was no.
In our Never Say Retired group, whenever discussions take place or people share their thoughts, one need repeatedly becomes visible above all else—the need for companionship in advancing age. People long for someone who can simply sit and talk to them.
Sometimes even one’s life partner is no longer there at this stage of life. In such moments, friendship becomes even more valuable.
Interestingly, professional companionship services have now also started emerging to address this growing emotional need among senior citizens.
When Should We Retire?
I was speaking earlier about the connection between retirement and health. Let us think about this a little more deeply.
As long as our health permits, and as long as we remain capable of doing some meaningful work, we should never think of completely retiring from life.
If we stop doing everything, even family members may gradually stop valuing our presence. But if we continue engaging ourselves in some activity, our days pass meaningfully, and we experience inner satisfaction from being productive.
At the end of the day, there is joy in being able to say: “Today, I accomplished something.”
Family members too remain happier seeing us active and positive. And perhaps this very sense of usefulness and satisfaction is one of the greatest supports for maintaining good health in old age.
What kinds of activities we can engage in during this phase of life—that is something we shall discuss another time.
Author
The author is the founder of the Never Say Retire mission. In order to achieve this goal, he also runs this website and his Facebook group Never Say Retire Forum has Hundreds and Thousands of members today.
