In the face of rapid population ageing, the long-run fall in effective retirement ages in most OECD countries needs to be reversed. There are some positive signs that this is beginning to happen, but early exit from the labour force, i.e. well before official old-age pension ages, still remains...

The 30 OECD member countries have very diverse pension systems. Current old-age public pension spending varies between less than 1 and more than 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Public spending on pensions per person aged 65 or over varies from less than 15 to more than 40 per cent...