10% continue to work after retirement: “love working” is the main reason
Nearly 40% of people aged 50-74 in Belgium receive an old-age pension. For a pensioner in ten, that did not mean quitting work immediately. The three main reasons are: “love working”, “financially necessary” and “social contacts”. This is what emerged from the new results of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office. In 2023, over 13,900 people aged 50-74 were surveyed about pension and labour market participation via the Labour Force Survey.
For both women and men, “love working and being productive” was the most important reason for continuing to work. This was even more pronounced for men, while for women the maintenance of social contacts also often played a decisive role. At the same time, nearly 71% of the 50-74-year-olds stopped working after starting to receive the old-age pension. Just under 20% did not have a job or were no longer working at that time.
The average age at which the first old-age pension was received is 62.5 years. Most (63.3%) receive only a statutory old-age pension without a supplementary pension. There are also all kinds of combinations with supplementary pensions (via a regular or lump sum payment) and the most common is the statutory old-age pension with a supplementary pension via an individual scheme (e.g. pension savings) (17.6%).
Among 50-74-year-olds not yet receiving a statutory old-age pension, almost 70% plan to retire at the statutory retirement age, 26.2% would retire early and just under 4% plan to retire after the statutory retirement age.
You will find more details here below.
39.4% of people aged 50-74 in Belgium receive a old-age pension
The survey about pension and labour market participation first probed the receipt of an old-age pension. 39.4% of people aged 50-74 in Belgium receive an old-age pension. It can be a statutory old-age pension (including the early old-age pension) or a supplementary pension financed by the employer (e.g. group insurance) or via an individual scheme (e.g. pension savings). A combination of various schemes is also possible.
| Old-age pension receipt ** (including lump sum benefits from supplementary pension) (2023) | Total * | |
|---|---|---|
| Number (x1,000) | % | |
| Yes | 1,396 | 39.4% |
| No | 2,150 | 60.6% |
| Total | 3,545 | 100.0% |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 ** definition old-age pension: see methodological note |
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Most beneficiaries of an old-age pension only receive an old-age pension without supplementary pension (63.3%). There are also all kinds of combinations. The most common combination is that of the first and the third pension pillars (17.6%). These are people who have received, in addition to a statutory old-age pension, regular benefits or a lump sum payment from a supplementary pension that was financed via an individual scheme such as pension savings. The combination of the first pension pillar and the second pension pillar, where an old-age pension is combined with a supplementary pension financed by the employer (e.g. via a group insurance) occurs in 9.4% of cases and another 8.6% combine the three pension pillars. Few people receive only supplementary pensions.
| Old-age pension type ** (including lump sum benefits from supplementary pension) (2023) | Total * | |
|---|---|---|
| Number (x1,000) | % | |
| Only a statutory old-age pension | 883 | 63.3% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed by the employer (e.g. via a group insurance) | 131 | 9.4% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed via an individual scheme (e.g. via pension savings) | 246 | 17.6% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed by the employer + supplementary pension financed via an individual scheme | 120 | 8.6% |
| Only (a) supplementary pension(s) | 16 | 1.1% |
| Total | 1,396 | 100% |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 who receive an old-age pension (including lump sum benefits from supplementary pension) ** definition pensions: see methodological note |
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The average age at which the old-age pension is first received is 62.5 years
People aged 50 to 74 receiving an old-age pension started to receive it on average at the age of 62.5. According to the estimated results per education level, this average is the highest among highly educated people (62.6 years).
| The average age at which the old-age pension is first received (2023) | Total * | Sex | Level of education | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | Low | Medium | High | ||
| 62.5 | 62.4 | 62.5 | 62.5 | 62.3 | 62.6 | |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 who receive an old-age pension (excluding lump sum benefits from supplementary pension) | ||||||
To continue or to stop working at retirement?
Nearly 71% of pension recipients have stopped working at retirement.
Nearly 71% of pension recipients have stopped working at retirement.
Furthermore, 9.4% of people aged 50-74 who receive an old-age pension continue to work after the first receipt of this pension and the next six months: 3.9% simply continued to do their job and 5.5% continued to work after making some changes, such as reducing the number of working hours or changing jobs.
19.7% had no (more) job or did not work (any more) when they started to receive their old-age pension. These are people who were for example unemployed, persons enjoying a bridging pension or permanently incapacitated for work, or housewives/househusbands.
More men (11.4%) than women (7.4%) continue to work when starting to receive an old-age pension, while the percentage of women with no job at retirement (25%) is higher than that of men (14.6%).
“Love working and being productive” is for 44% of respondents the main reason to continue to work
When persons who continued to work after receiving their first old-age pension were asked what the main reason for continuing to work was, 44.1% indicated “love working and being productive”, 15.7% “out of financial necessity, in order to earn a sufficiently high income” and 13.3% “social contacts”.
Furthermore, 10% continue to work for the “financial benefits”, 6.6% because “the partner is still working” and 10.2% for “other reasons”.
For men, “love working and being productive” is even more important than for women (52.2% and 31% respectively), while maintaining social contacts is more likely to be an important reason for women than men to continue working (18% and 10.5% respectively).
Moreover, more women (18.5%) than men (14%) indicate that they continue to work mainly out of financial necessity.
To stop working because retirement age is reached
Those who stopped working when they started receiving an old-age pension were asked what the main reason was why they stopped working at that time.
Most did so because they had reached retirement age (early or not) (62.9%).
For 11.4%, financial considerations in particular played a role. For them, for example, there were favourable financial arrangements or they feared that postponing retirement would lead to a lower pension. 8.8% stopped because they had reached the mandatory retirement age and 8% because of health reasons or incapacity for work.
Work-related reasons such as difficult working hours or a stressful job and family or care-related reasons were less indicated as the main reason to stop working (5.5% and 2.9% respectively).
To stop because of health or incapacity for work was more common among women (9.5%) than men (6.7%) and more common among low-educated people (10.1%) than medium- or highly-educated people (7% and 6.9%).
Almost 60% of the 50-74-year-olds started receiving the statutory old-age pension at the legal retirement age.
Those receiving a statutory old-age pension were asked whether they first started receiving it before, at or after the legal retirement age.
Most people (59.6%) started receiving their statutory pension at the legal retirement age.
38.2% started receiving the statutory old-age pension before the legal retirement age and so retired early. More men than women retired early (39.9% versus 36.5% respectively) and more women than men started to receive their statutory old-age pension after the legal retirement age.
| When did you first received your statutory old-age pension? (2023) | Total * | Gender | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | |||||
| Number (x1,000) | % | Number (x1,000) | % | Number (x1,000) | % | |
| Before the legal retirement age | 528 | 38.2% | 283 | 39.9% | 245 | 36.5% |
| At the legal retirement age | 822 | 59.6% | 412 | 58.2% | 410 | 61.1% |
| After the legal retirement age | 30 | 2.2% | 14 | 1.9% | 17 | 2.5% |
| Totaal | 1,380 | 100% | 709 | 100% | 671 | 100% |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 who receive a statutory old-age pension | ||||||
Almost 70% of those not yet receiving a statutory old-age pension plan to retire at the legal retirement age
The 50-74-year-olds not yet receiving an old-age pension were also asked when they plan to retire. Some 30% replied they do not know yet.
Of those who already know when they plan to retire, nearly 70% said they will retire at the legal retirement age. 26.2% plan to retire early and the rest (3.9%) plan to retire after the legal retirement age.
Three quarters of low educated 50-74-year-olds plan to retire at the legal retirement age, 21.8% wish to retire early and 2.6% after the legal retirement age. Highly educated people plan less to retire at the legal retirement age (65.9%). They plan more to retire either before the legal retirement age (28.5%) or after the legal retirement age (5.6%).
| When do you plan to retire? (2023) | Total * | Level of education | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Medium | High | ||||||
| Number (x1,000) | % | Number (x1,000) | % | Number (x1,000) | % | Number (x1,000) | % | |
| Before the legal retirement age, i.e. you intend to retire early | 399 | 26.2% | 77 | 21.8% | 156 | 26.4% | 165 | 28.5% |
| At the legal retirement age | 1,065 | 69.9% | 267 | 75.5% | 417 | 70.4% | 381 | 65.9% |
| After the legal retirement age | 60 | 3.9% | 9 | 2.6% | 19 | 3.1% | 32 | 5.6% |
| Total | 1,524 | 100% | 354 | 100% | 592 | 100% | 578 | 100% |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 who don't receive a statutory old-age pension | ||||||||
Accrual of pension rights
The 50-74-year-olds who do not (yet) receive a statutory pension and a regular payment from a supplementary pension financed by the employer were asked whether they had already accrued or were still accruing pension rights (irrespective of how they will be paid out later, once or regularly). These are pension rights for a statutory old-age pension (the first pension pillar), a supplementary pension via the employer or via a scheme for the self-employed (the second pension pillar) and/or a supplementary pension via an individual scheme (the third pension pillar).
28% only accrue pension rights for the first pension pillar. The most common combination is that of the statutory pension with the second and third pension pillars (21.8%), followed by the combination of the statutory pension with the third pension pillar (19.6%). 9.2% accrue rights for the combination of a statutory old-age pension and a supplementary pension financed by the employer. Only accruing rights for a supplementary pension without the first pension pillar is very rare. In contrast, 19.7% accrue no pension rights at all.
There are clear differences according to level of education and region.
Persons with a high level of education mainly accrue pension rights for a combination of the three pension pillars (33.8%). Among persons with medium and low education levels, this amounts to 19.5% and 6.7% respectively. Persons accruing pension rights only for a statutory pension are more likely to be found among those with a low level of education (40.4%). Among persons with medium or higher education levels, this is lower: 30.3% and 17.8% respectively.
The situation where one accrues pension rights only for the statutory pension is least common in the Flemish Region (19.9%) and most common in the Brussels-Capital Region (48%). In the Walloon Region, it is 36.9%.
| Accruel for pension rights (2023) | Total * | Level of education | Region of residence | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Medium | High | Brussels-Capital Region | Flemish Region | Walloon Region | ||
| Only for a statutory old-age pension | 28.0% | 40.4% | 30.3% | 17.8% | 48.0% | 19.9% | 36.9% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed by the employer (e.g. via a group insurance) | 9.2% | 5.3% | 10.6% | 10.2% | 7.4% | 9.8% | 8.6% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed via an individual scheme (e.g. via pension savings) | 19.6% | 9.8% | 21.2% | 24.3% | 12.1% | 21.3% | 18.8% |
| A statutory old-age pension + supplementary pension financed by the employer + supplementary pension financed via an individual scheme | 21.8% | 6.7% | 19.5% | 33.8% | 13.6% | 28.3% | 12.5% |
| Only for (a) supplementary pension(s) | 1.7% | 1.4% | 2.0% | 1.6% | 0.7% | 2.4% | 0.8% |
| No accruel for pension rights | 19.7% | 36.4% | 16.5% | 12.3% | 18.3% | 18.4% | 22.4% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| * target group: all persons aged 50-74 who don't receive a statutory old-age pension nor a periodic payment of a supplementary pension financed by the employer | |||||||
Methodological note
In 2023, over 13,900 people aged 50-74 were surveyed about pension and work. Both people who already receive a pension and people who do not receive one yet were interviewed. Extrapolated to the total population, this represents 3,545,000 people.
The questions were spread over the whole year 2023 and were added to the first interview of the Labour Force Survey, that was conducted face-to-face.
The questions covered among others the receipt of an old-age pension, the accrual of pension rights, the period when people first received their pension and pension plans for those not yet receiving a pension.
The results are no absolute figures, but the result of an extrapolation of the sample. This must be taken into account when interpreting the results. When the estimated number of persons is lower than 8,000, data should be interpreted with caution.
Definitions
Retirement
The survey is harmonised at European level. In this context, a pension is a periodic, usually monthly payment. It does not include lump sum benefits.
Remark
In Belgium, supplementary pensions are usually paid out through lump sum payments. Therefore, this press release includes the results on the various old-age pensions including the lump sum benefits.
For European comparisons, these results also exclude lump sum benefits. These are available on our website (xlsx 113 KB).
By an “old-age pension” is meant: 1) a statutory old-age pension (including early old-age pension), 2) a supplementary pension financed by the employer or via a scheme for the self-employed and 3) a supplementary pension via an individual scheme.
- A “statutory old-age pension” (including the early statutory old-age pension) is a benefit that one receives from a certain age and is granted on the basis of a personal professional career as an employee, self-employed or civil servant. The system is financed by statutory social security contributions. Are included here: old-age pensions from abroad, survivor's pension if the person has reached retirement age. Are excluded among others: the “System of unemployment with company allowance”, the so-called bridging pension, the survivor's pension paid before retirement age.
- A “supplementary pension financed by the employer”, the so-called second pension pillar, relies on capitalisation and supplements the statutory old-age pension and is built up in the context of a career as an employee or self-employed person. It is organised on the basis of the enterprise, industry or profession. E.g. a pension through a group insurance scheme, a pension fund or a supplementary old-age pension for the self-employed.
- A “supplementary pension via an individual scheme”, the so-called “third pension pillar” relies on capitalisation and supplements the statutory old-age pension. The initiative of this pension provision is taken by the individual, independent of professional status. E.g. a pension via individual pension savings or individual pension savings insurance.
Low-skilled people are people who have at most a lower secondary education diploma. Medium-skilled people are people who obtained a diploma of upper secondary education but not of higher education. Highly-skilled people obtained a diploma of higher education.
Highest level of education
Low: at most a lower secondary education diploma. Medium : obtained a diploma of upper secondary education but not of higher education. High: obtained a diploma of higher education.
This survey is conducted with a grant from Eurostat.
