SuperGuide

Superannuation and retirement planning information

What is the retirement age in Australia?

What is the retirement age in Australia?

“What is Australia’s retirement age?” or “What age can I retire?” are common questions. The simple answer is “it depends”.

There’s no such thing as a ‘retirement age’ in Australia, nor any laws that dictate when someone can retire. In theory, you can choose to retire whenever you want, although there are some age-based rules that impact when many Australians choose to retire. More on those later.

Background: This wasn’t always the case. It was only in 1993 that an Industrial Relations Reform Act prohibited terminating someone’s employment because of their age. The public service didn’t catch up until 1999.

Rather than thinking about what age you can retire, better questions are “When should I retire?” and “When can I afford to retire?”. These are very personal matters that depend principally on when you can financially support the lifestyle you want to lead in retirement unless ill health or other factors make the decision for you.

So, at what age do most Australians retire?

The average age of retirement

The average age of retirement in Australia has been rising steadily for decades, from age 53.5 in 2000 to 64.8 in 2022, with women tending to retire one or two years before men on average. These are the most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the trend towards retiring later is likely to continue.

For a variety of reasons, today’s retirees are likely to stay in the workforce for longer than previous generations. In fact, the workforce participation rate for those aged 65-plus more than doubled in the 20 years from 2001, from 6% to 15% in 2021. Improved health outcomes, greater workforce flexibility allowing a gradual transition into retirement and higher average levels of education leading to less physical work are contributing factors to a trend that is likely to continue.

But for some people there are also financial imperatives to work a little longer. These may include:

  • We are living longer and need to save more for our retirement or run the risk that our savings will run out
  • Our lifestyle expectations are higher than they were for previous generations
  • More of us are carrying a mortgage and other debt later in life
  • Our children are leaving home later, leaving us with less time to boost our retirement savings
  • The age of eligibility for the Age Pension has increased (to 67).

This last point puts a floor under retirement decisions for many Australians. Given that today’s retirees have not had the full impact of compulsory super throughout their working life, the Age Pension still supplements the income of around 65% of retirees.

When can I access my super or the Age Pension?

In practice, there are two age rules that impact when most Australians can retire because they allow you to access funds to support your retirement. These are:

  • Preservation age: This is the age when you can access your super provided you have also met a condition of release (such as retiring or turning 65). From 1 July 2024 the preservation age increased to 60 (for those born from 1 July 1964) and stays there.
  • Age Pension age: This is the age when you can access Australia’s Age Pension, provided you’re an Australian resident and you pass both the income test and the assets test. From 1 January 2024 the age of eligibility for the Age Pension increased to 67 for people born from 1 January 1957, and will remain at age 67 from now on.

You can find out your preservation age and Age Pension eligibility age by entering your date of birth into our retirement age calculator below. Alternatively, click the button below to view a table with the preservation age and Age Pension age for a range of birth years.

Birth yearPreservation ageAge Pension age
1949, 1950 or 19515565
19525565
(if you were born between 1 January 1952 and 30 June 1952)

or 65 years and 6 months
(if you were born between 1 July 1952 and 31 December 1952)
19535565 years and 6 months
19545566
19555566
(if you were born between 1 January 1955 and 30 June 1955)

or 66 years and 6 months
(if you were born between 1 July 1955 and 31 December 1955)
19565566 years and 6 months
1957, 1958 or 19595567
196055
(if you were born between 1 January 1960 and 30 June 1960)

or 56
(if you were born between 1 July 1960 and 31 December 1960)		67
196156
(if you were born between 1 January 1961 and 30 June 1961)

or 57
(if you were born between 1 July 1961 and 31 December 1961)		67
196257
(if you were born between 1 January 1962 and 30 June 1962)

or 58
(if you were born between 1 July 1962 and 31 December 1962)		67
196358
(if you were born between 1 January 1963 and 30 June 1963)

or 59
(if you were born between 1 July 1963 and 31 December 1963)		67
196459
(if you were born between 1 January 1964 and 30 June 1964)

or 60
(if you were born between 1 July 1964 and 31 December 1964)		67
1965 or later6067

Retirement age calculator

If you need help working out your own preservation age and Age Pension age, please use our retirement age calculator below.

  1. Click on the date (by default it is 1 January 1960)
  2. Select the year of your birth from the dropdown menu.
  3. Select ‘next’ until you find the month of your birth, then select your birthday.
  4. If you were born before 1 January 1949 you will also need to select your sex.

The bottom line

Deciding when you should retire is an important financial decision. You can use the preservation and Age Pension eligibility ages as a guide, but it’s important to consider your financial circumstances and goals. A good starting point is to follow our guide How to plan for your retirement.  

You may also consider seeking independent professional advice. Doing this will help you make a decision that will enable you to lead a lifestyle you can afford in retirement.

The information contained in this article is general in nature.

About the author

Barbara Drury

Barbara is a financial journalist and author with over 30 years’ experience in Australia and the UK. She is a contributor to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Money section, and has worked for the Australian Financial Review and The Australian.

Barbara is the author of Alan Kohler’s Eureka Report Guide to Personal Investing, Sorting Out Your Finances for Dummies and Personal Finance for Dummies and co-author of Investing for Dummies with James Kirby.

Learn more about how to plan your retirement in the following guides:
Learn more about retirement calculators and reckoners in the following guides:
Learn more about when to retire in the following guides:

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Getting started Retirement planning

IMPORTANT: All information on SuperGuide is general in nature only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether any information on SuperGuide is appropriate to you before acting on it. If SuperGuide refers to a financial product you should obtain the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) or seek personal financial advice before making any investment decisions. Comments provided by readers that may include information relating to tax, superannuation or other rules cannot be relied upon as advice. SuperGuide does not verify the information provided within comments from readers. Learn more

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peter Ferris says

    Please be aware the information as stated is a guide and really does depend on the fiscal management of each and every past and future government. The way it is going there will be no pensions available in future years at all so retirees will need to be self funded. Look to other countries if you don’t think this will happen. Plenty of poorer countries have no unemployment schemes let alone pensions. Paul Keating bought in superannuation so he could spend the extra projected pensions at the time during his reign of terror and every politician since has focused on getting people self funded so they did not have to pay future pensions. I would estimate that those born after about 1965 on current trajectory of economic poor management will be on a reduced pension if any and an older retirement date. It’s already bumped to 67 don’t be surprised it goes to 70. My tip also is don’t rely at all on superfunds. Politicians can access them at anytime as well as cash in banks to pay the countries debt. Looking at the current amount and on future projections they are going to have plenty. Have your own diversified investments in realestate, shares and gold etc. You’re going to need it.

    • jenny mann says

      Reign of terror indeed. It was the liberal govt who wanted to put the new retirement age at 70 and labour opposed it and kept it to 67. get your facts.

  2. Damon Lastname says

    Hello
    I first starting working in 1987 (born 1971) and at that time I chose to retire at 55yrs.
    As I’m from a trade background, it will be impossible to retire (I’m currently working in garden maintenance) at the required age due to increasing physical difficulties and pain. I have definitely no plans to live past 60 yrs and will be actively preparing for euthanasia following my 50th next year. I’m currently very active in Bushwalking and Canyoning and if I cannot do this; I no longer want to be here. THERE should/must be options for those that are working more physically than others to enable them to access their super earlier. However the basic, sad, grim reality is that the GOV of the day wants you die before you have the chance to access your super, therfore more money for THEM; sorry to say its simply risk anaylsis, and THEIR ALWAYS going to bet for their side; not yours.
    I invite a reply, if any.
    regards
    Damon

  3. les and brenda smith says

    I have found this information very interesting and valuable to research my intentions to retire, information here is clear and precise, thank you

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