A need to reduce the retirement age

The government’s forward planning for the increasing number of retirees is laudable, but the funding scheme here and in Japan is doomed to fail because a smaller working population will be unable to sustain manufacturing and essential services. 

The only way of relieving this dilemma is to decrease the size of the retired population and increase the number of workers – a solution which has been set in train by some governments by increasing the retirement age to 67-68 years, and to 65 in Japan. Retirement remains more or less fixed at 60 years of age in Thailand. While setting an increased retirement age is easy, the focus has to be on the notion of healthy ageing, so that most can work, or at least be independent, well into their seventh decade.

Another major difference is that only 29 per cent of Thai workers have a pension scheme, while the remainder makes do with the Bt600 per month. 

The real answer to the ageing problem is to focus on healthy ageing and keep the elderly fit enough to stay in useful employment. But this requires a large shift in culture and lifestyle.

Norman Scholfield

Phitsanulok