Most of us like to benchmark ourselves; our income, house prices, super savings or even how many steps a day we walk. It’s a very human characteristic, but also a useful one. Why? Because knowing our place in the overall scheme of things can often help us better understand ways to improve our situation. To use a health analogy, knowing the recommended weight and BMI for our age is one way of gauging our overall health – and a trigger to spur us on to better health habits.
It’s no different with retirement and retirement income. Knowing our own ranking in the general Australian retirement landscape is very helpful information. Most of the time it’s also an affirmation of our particular situation – knowing we are ‘with the pack’ helps in some immeasurable way.
One very useful retirement benchmark is the HILDA Report. Or, to give it its full named, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia report (currently celebrating its 20th edition). It’s an annual but every four years it reports of the retirement ‘state of the nation’. The top level numbers tell us a lot about retirement, including:
The age at which Australians are now retiring,
the reason most people leave work,
the gap between men and women’s super balances, and
homeownership fluctuations.
Looking at each of these four trends will help you better understand your own place in the scheme of things. (The following information was drawn from the full HILDA report as well as a summary first published in The Conversation.
1. Later retirements – older workers
One in 3 Australians in their late 60s are still working. This is a major change:
In 2003, about 70% of women and almost half of men aged 60–64 had fully retired from the workforce.
In 2023, those numbers have fallen to 41% and 27% respectively.
For people aged 65–69, retirement rates have also dropped – from 86% to 66% among women, and from 73% to 61% among men.
In summary, the median age at retirement has moved from 59 (2003) to 64 (2023) from women and 60 (2003) to 65 (2023) for men.
2. Why do people retire?
According to HILDA, health problems remain the most common reason Australians give for retiring. In 2023, 29% of recent retirees said they left work because of their own or a loved one’s health. That number is down from 39% in 2003 (reflecting longer life expectancy and better health outcomes) but health issues remain the most cited reason for retirement.
Job-related factors – such as redundancy or pressure from an employer – are another major factor cited by recent retirees (27%).
And financial reasons, including becoming eligible for the Age Pension, have also become more common. The share of recent retirees citing financial reasons as their main motivation has risen from 13% in 2003 to 21% in 2023.
