The Austrian pay-as-you-go system offers very good and reliable pensions in an international comparison, even for today’s young people. At the same time – as the Ageing Report 2024 clearly shows – public pension expenditure as a percentage of GDP is expected to increase only very moderately in the long term, despite rising life expectancy and significant population ageing. The Austrian approach thus proves to be a suitable response to the demographic challenge.

While – as the Ageing Report scenarios also show – raising the statutory retirement age would miss the real challenges and result in far-reaching negative effects for today’s younger people, improving labour market integration (across all working ages) could further promote both adequacy and sustainability.

The Ageing Report is issued every three years by the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) together with the EU Commission (Directorate-General ECFIN). It provides long-term projections of age-related expenditure (pensions, health, long-term care and education) for the EU member states.