by Jim Rose in economics

Figure 1 shows that Europeans retire a lot earlier than Americans, with the exception of Portugal. Some of these member states of the European Union are more able than others to afford the luxury of early retirement. The reasons for the lower effective retirement ages in the European Union member states are a combination of high taxes and generous old-age pension systems.

Figure 1: effective retirement ages in the USA, UK, Germany, France and the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain), average for 2007 – 2012



Source: OECD Pensions at a Glance.