Lifestyle is a more significant factor in life expectancy than physical wear and tear

The government believes that early retirement is intended to address life expectancy disparities. However, Danish research shows that smoking and alcohol are the primary causes of these problems.

Should skilled workers be eligible for early retirement because they have shorter life expectancies?

The government has a recurring argument when justifying its proposal for early retirement: namely, that it is unfair that skilled and unskilled workers today have shorter life expectancies than people with higher levels of education. As Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said last week:

“A shorter life expectancy means fewer years in retirement. With this measure, we are working to correct that injustice.”

The shorter life expectancy of skilled workers may be due to an unhealthy lifestyle

However, Danish research shows that this inequality is primarily due to lifestyle—and thus, to a lesser extent, to physical wear and tear and hard work.

For example, Knud Juel, professor emeritus at the National Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), has shown that 60–70 percent of the difference in life expectancy between those with the least and most education is due to smoking and alcohol consumption.

“That accounts for the vast majority of the inequality,” he states, emphasizing that working conditions may account for a smaller portion, but so might genetics or obesity:

“There may be good reasons to offer early retirement to workers who are physically worn out. You just have to avoid linking it to life expectancy, because then the arguments won’t hold up. For example, if smokers live 10 years less, should they be able to retire 10 years earlier to get the same amount of time in retirement?”

Morten Grønbæk, director of the National Institute of Public Health, notes that “having a physically demanding, repetitive, and strenuous job can also make a difference”:

“But the main reason for shorter life expectancy is lifestyle.”

Individual assessment of senior pension

The Liberal Party opposes early retirement and would rather give more people access to senior pensions, under which individuals are currently assessed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether their ability to work is less than 15 hours per week.

“You can’t just use life expectancy, the way the government does. Of course, life expectancy can be linked to one’s job—but you can’t ignore people’s lifestyles,” says Finance Spokesperson Troels Lund Poulsen (V).

Employment Minister Peter Hummelgaard points out that even when smoking and alcohol consumption are taken into account, there remains a difference in life expectancy between people with short and long educational backgrounds:

Of course, lifestyle plays a role in life expectancy. But we can also see that it’s still determined by your class—to use a term we all understand. It’s a structural problem—and not just a matter of people being to blame for it themselves.

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