(de-news.net) – To achieve long-term stabilization of statutory pension insurance, the authors of a contemporary analysis in the Ifo-Schnelldienst advocate for adjusting the retirement age in line with life expectancy. Such a measure would serve to preserve the equilibrium between contributors and pensioners, despite demographic imbalances. Moreover, they recommend that future pensions be indexed solely to inflation rather than the growth rate of net wages. Marcel Thum, head of the Ifo office in Dresden, notes that both the alignment of the retirement age with life expectancy and the inflation indexation of pensions have been successfully implemented in other European nations. Nevertheless, no major political party in Germany currently ventures to pursue such a reform.
In 2023, the aggregate cost of old-age security amounted to 429 billion euros, representing approximately ten percent of the gross domestic product. By 2038, the expenditures on statutory pension insurance are projected to increase by over 75 percent, whereas taxable incomes are anticipated to rise by merely 50 percent, as per the institute’s findings.