More people need to work to sustain retirement pension
It looks like the part of the population in Iceland who is 67 and older will increase from 28,500 in 2000 to 63,100 in 2030. mbl.is/Arnþór Birkisson
It is important to have more people 67 and older working, says the economist Ásta Ásgeirsdóttir who works for the National Association of Pension Funds.
"For the social security system and the tax system as a whole it matters that the tax base does not shrink because fewer people are working. The bottomline is that we need more 67 year old people and older to stay longer in the job market. This is not a specific issue to Iceland but an ongoing issue in many countries," she says.
Need more people 67 and older on the job market
The ratio of Icelanders on the job market (16-66) to each individual receiving pension (67 and older) has gone down from 6.36 in the year 2000 to 5.19 in the beginning of this year. The forecast is that it will go even lower and will be at 4.38 in 2030, based on population forecast data from Statistics Iceland. That means that there are two less people on the job market behind each pensioner over 67 years old than in 2000.
It is also worrying that the assets of the pension funds decreased by 362 billion ISK in the first half of this year.
The forecast is that 67 and older part of the population in Iceland will increase from 28,500 in 2000 to 63,100 in 2030.
