Denmark has raised its retirement age to 70, making it the highest retirement age in Europe.

However, the United States may have a hard time following its leadership.

New changes in Denmark will apply to public pension retirement starting in 2040. Since 2006, the country has been adjusting its retirement age to reflect changes in life expectancy.

Technically, the United States does not have a formal retirement age. At the age of 65, individuals are eligible for Medicare coverage. At the age of 66 to 67, a person is eligible for full Social Security benefits based on his or her income record based on his or her income record.

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But those who wait until the age of 70 claim that Social Security retirement benefits will receive the largest spending – an increase of 8% per year over the full retirement age. (All retirement ages are the beneficiaries who are eligible for 100% benefits obtained based on work records.)

However, few people wait until they are 70 years old to ask for benefits. Although more than 90% of individuals will benefit from delaying social security until that age, only about 10% do so, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s 2023 paper.

Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist and professor at the New School of Social Studies, said that while 70 is not the official retirement age in the United States, it is the threshold for the economist’s definition to be based on the definition of an economist.

"It's been 70 years in the United States, and for decades, we have the highest retirement age than any other country," Ghilarducci said.

However, efforts are being made to formally raise the retirement age of the United States.

In 1983, Congress passed legislation to gradually increase the entire retirement age of social security From 65 to 67 years old. Today, this change is still in stages, with people born in 1960 and later affected by 67 retirement ages.

In December last year, in a final effort to advance legislation to increase social security benefits for certain public pensioners, Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment to raise the entire retirement age to 70.

The bill is the Social Security Fair Act and is rated as law. However, the proposal to raise retirement age was knocked out.

Paul called for a three-month increase in retirement age until the age of 70 to reflect current expectations. The change will generate nearly $400 billion in savings for the program, while the Social Security Fair Act adds $200 billion in costs to the program.

Other Republican proposals also call for an increase in retirement age.

The Social Security Bureau faces an imminent exhaustion date of trust funds to help pay benefits. To help solve this problem, lawmakers could consider increasing taxes, cutting benefits, or a combination of the two. Raising retirement age is actually cutting benefits.

Just like the changes made in 1983, a menu that raises retirement age may also be on the menu.

Experts say Denmark's move to raise its retirement age to 70 is not surprising.

In 2023, a study published by the Danish Centre for Social Sciences found that adding good health and educational resources to young people aged 60 to 70, as well as a higher demand for older workers, may indicate an increase in retirement age in the future.

In 2025, Danish residents can retire at the age of 67 and retire with a public pension. As of 2040, this will gradually increase to 70 years old.

"That simply put, young people today have to work longer to retire," said Jesper Rangvid, a finance professor at Copenhagen Business School and co-director of the Center for Pension Research.

According to Rangvid, retirement age affects everyone who is entitled to basic public pension income. However, those who save private pensions may retire earlier.

"If you have the funds and means, there is nothing to stop you from retirement earlier," Rangvid said.

Denmark does offer early retirement options, including early pensions. But, the era of raising retirement conveys a message, Rangvid said.

"It sends a signal that this is what the position wants and you should work longer," Rangvid said.

Retirement experts say people who raise the retirement age in the United States may not offer the same solution to the population provided by Denmark.

Denmark has a larger “equal society” in terms of income, wealth, education and life expectancy, said Alicia Munnell, senior consultant at the Boston College Retirement Research Center.

In the U.S., government data show a significant difference in life expectancy among people with the lowest income quartiles.

"Any full growth in retirement era is stupid when you have such a big difference," Munell said. "It's very harmful to people who are already receiving benefits in a shorter time."

Andrew Biggs, senior fellow at the American College of Enterprise, said policies to raise retirement age can also be problematic - it takes some time to make changes at stages.

For example, a higher retirement age that Congress may begin to take effect within 10 years, and then for those with higher retirement ages, it will take 30 years to pass through the system.

Biggs said that moving age from 67 to 69 would save the program in the long run, "they need that money right now," Biggs said.

According to Rangvid, Denmark began in 2006 with welfare reforms in Denmark (with the increase in life expectancy, the retirement age will increase - "extremely important" to the country's economy.

"We basically have no public debt at all," said Lanvid.

By contrast, the United States faces high national debt, requiring the country to spend more money on interest payments than the military.

The committee in charge of the federal budget said budget legislation currently under consideration in Congress could increase debt by $3.3 trillion.

The package does not touch on social security or retirement age. However, other proposals suggest that change is a welfare cut that will be a "quite strong leverage" to help solve the funding problem of the program.

A proposal by the Social Security Bureau actuary score found that increasing the entire retirement age to 70 would eliminate 26% of the program's 75-year shortage.