Pension age rise meets resistance

Pension ages in the developed world are on the rise: Germany recently raised the retirement age to 67; Australia is following suit, with the entitlement age rising gradually from 65 to 67. Not everyone must wait so long:

While many member states are facing pressure funding pensions as the EU's population ages and lives longer, France faces the most difficulties.

According to FT Deutschland, men in France retire on average at 58.7 years, the lowest age in both the EU and the OECD.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected on a reform ticket in 2009, has been hesitant to tackle pensions, an issue that has long brought French people to the streets and even contributed to the fall of a government in the 1990s.

Hundreds of thousands took to France's streets last week protesting the mere suggestion that the official pension aged be raised to 62. The whole of Europe is in for an interesting next few years.