AS GOVERNMENTS try to tackle huge structural budget deficits, one means of attack is to delay paying state pensions by gently raising the official state-retirement age. Protests are expected in Spain on Tuesday February 23rd against an official plan to lift the retirement age by two years to 67. Official retirement ages have failed to keep pace with rising life expectancy, making pensions increasingly unaffordable. In practice many people in the rich-world OECD countries retire several years early, which lets them enjoy, on average, some 19 years in retirement before death. Spaniards should spare a thought for the previous generation; those who became pensioners in 1970 could expect to survive for less than a decade.

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