Danes to retire later to finance ageing society 

After three year of debates involving social partners and political parties, Denmark is set to raise the retirement age to 67 years, from the present 65. The scheme will be introduced step-by-step before 2027. It also includes an even more pro-active labour market policy, measures bringing students into jobs more quickly and for rising the employment rate of immigrants. the minimum age for early retirement will also be raised, to 62 years from the present 60. 

The liberal-conservative government led by PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen presented the reform on 21 June 2006, after three years of consultations involving the main political stakeholders. They have the support of all the parties in the government coalition as well as of most opposition parties. Finance minister Thor Pedersen said the country has no choice "if it wants to preserve its policy of welfare", adding that "it is a major challenge to finance social spending when there are more inactive elderly people and less young people".

Employers criticised the reforms however, claiming they did not go far enough. Jørgen Søndergaard of the Institute for Social research, a think tank close to the employers' association, told Berlingske Tidende newspaper that the reforms were 'unambitious' and that he would have liked to see early retirement schemes, which cost 3.35 billion euro a year, completely abolished. 

Denmark is, together with Ireland and the UK, one of only three EU countries which have experienced a cyclical upturn between 2000 and 2006. Danish labourer's incomes rose by 18% during that period, more than double of the EU average of 8%.