Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Table 4: Average age of take-up of pensions in Western Germany, 1970-2006
Year
old-age pension
disability pension
Total Men Women Total Men Women
1970 64.3 65.2 63.3 58.3 57.7 59
1975 63.6 64.1 63.0 57.8 56.3 59.2
1980 62.2 62.5 61.9 56.1 54.4 57.7
1985 62.8 62.7 62.9 53.9 53.7 54.3
1990 63.2 62.8 63.5 53.4 53.8 52.6
1993 63.3 62.9 63.7 53.4 53.9 52.2
1995 63.0 62.6 63.3 52.8 53.4 51.5
2000 62.6 62.4 62.8 51.8 52.6 50.5
2005 63.4 63.3 63.5 50 50.6 49.3
2006 63.4 63.4 63.4 50.1 50.7 49.3
Source: DRV 2007 (99-100).
The factual retirement age within statutory old-age pension scheme pension scheme in
Germany is 63.3 years for men and 63.2 years for women. The phenomenon of higher
average retirement ages of women compared to that of men (between 1984 and 2005) is a
rare one among OECD countries and related to the long career breaks of women after
childbirth due to which they do not reached the longer insurance period required by the oldage
pension for women (OECD 2005a: 74). Between 2002 and 2003, the percentage of
persons taking up a pension at the age of 65 has risen and has remained constant afterwards,
while less and less 60- and 61-year-olds are claiming a pension (including disability
pensions; Brussig/Wojtkowski 2006: 11). That development can be ascribed partly to
demographic developments (larger amount of baby-boomers in older age cohorts till 2001),
but a clear effect of pension deductions is also visible (ibid: 1, 14; Büttner/Knuth 2004:10).
Evasive movements between different kinds of pensions become apparent in Figures 4 and
5.
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