Shifting sands of retirement: We’re all living longer but this extra living has to be paid for

A third of us still rely on state pension

According to the CSO, there’s been a 44% increase in the number of retired people since 2011.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has just published its pensions coverage report for 2023. They found that in the last quarter of the year, 68% of workers had some form of pension coverage outside of the state pension. That’s up two percentage points on the same period in 2022.

The latest Census shows there’s been a 44% increase in the number of retired people since 2011. We’re all living longer, which is great, but all this extra living has to be paid for. Moreover, the latter stages of life tend to require greater medical intervention, and healthcare inflation is rampant. VHI, Laya and Irish Life Health all announced significant premium hikes in the last two months.