French President Emmanuel Macron may have pushed through his unpopular pension reform but only at great cost to his political capital, which he is now seeking to repair by offering talks with trade unions on other issues.
French police operate during a demonstration following a special address to the nation by French President Emmanuel Macron, after he signed into law the pension reform raising the retirement age, in Paris, France, April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
Comparatively lower retirement and high life expectancy mean that the French do indeed spend longer in retirement than many other countries, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. But such high spending helps keep France's poverty rate for retired people among the lowest in the developed world at only 4% of the population compared with an OECD average of 13% while inequality rates are also lower than average.Not exactly. While France stands out for its low standard retirement age, the picture is less clear cut than it first seems because when a worker retires also depends on how long they have made contributions to the pension system.
The OECD estimates that the normal retirement age for a Frenchmen who started work at 22 is 64.5 years, fractionally higher than the EU average of 64.3 but behind Germany's 65.7 years.
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