{"id":625835,"date":"2026-04-23T14:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625835\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:06:14","slug":"the-dutch-are-working-longer-freelancers-retire-at-almost-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625835\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dutch are working longer, freelancers retire at almost 69"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  April 23, 2026  <img width=\"1000\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Exercise-pensioners-keep-fit-healthy-lifestyle.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/> Photo: DutchNews.nl<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The average retirement age in the Netherlands has gone up again, reaching 66 years and four months last year, according to new figures from national statistics agency CBS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">That is 2.5 months later than in 2024, and marks a continuation of the trend toward later retirement which started in 2006 when the average age was just 61.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Then the government began implementing a string of measures to boost this, phasing out early retirement schemes and increasing the state pension age to its current level of 67 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Freelancers retire on average three years later than employees, the CBS said. Figures from 2023 \u2013 the most recent statistics available \u2013 show the self-employed stopped work at an average age of just under 69.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">In total, some 100,000 people stopped working last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Some 45% of the people who retired last year were women, compared with just 28% at the beginning of the century, when far fewer older women were working.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/category\/pensions\/?list\" class=\"btn btn-secondary btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pensions<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/category\/self-employed\/?list\" class=\"btn btn-secondary btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Self employed<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/category\/society\/?list\" class=\"btn btn-secondary btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Society<\/a> Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\"> We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/donate-to-dutchnews-nl\" class=\"btn btn-success btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Make a donation <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 23, 2026 Photo: DutchNews.nl The average retirement age in the Netherlands has gone up again, reaching 66&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-625835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}