For more than six in 10 workers in Ireland (62 percent), retiring before the State pension age of 66 feels “out of reach,” according to a new survey.

The annual Retirement Age Financial Feasibility Survey 2025 from Royal London Ireland, which was conducted on 1,000 adults across the country, additionally found that almost one in five workers (18 percent) say they won’t be able to afford retirement until age 70.

However, the report said that while “early retirement remains a distant hope for most, optimism is rising”.

It justified that statement with the finding that six percent of workers are aiming to retire by 55, which is double the three percent recorded by the 2024 survey.

Other survey results include the finding that one in two (52 percent) workers in Ireland expect to retire either at or just before the State pension age of 66, while almost one in five (18 percent) of those nearing retirement (age 55+) say they “never want to fully retire”.

The survey found women to be more likely to report that they’ll have to work until age 70 (20 percent vs 16 percent of men), while the report also observed that women are more likely than men to say they never want to fully retire (15 percent of women, compared with 10 percent of men).

Commenting on the survey, Pension Proposition Lead with Royal London Ireland, Mark Reilly, said that the “prospect of retiring before the State Pension age of 66 remains out of reach for most, who say it simply isn’t financially realistic”.

“While half of workers expect to retire around 65 or 66, a notable one in five believe they want to or may have to keep working until the age of 70,” he said adding that “that’s a significant indicator of the financial pressures many households continue to face”.

“On a positive note, we’re also seeing subtle signs of growing confidence. While the numbers are small, the proportion of people who think they could retire by 55 has doubled since last year. The increase is particularly strong among those aged 45-54, where one in ten (11 percent) now believes they can achieve this milestone, which is almost triple the number who felt this way last year (four percent),” Mr Reilly said.

“These are people who are far enough along in their careers to have built a clearer picture of their long-term finances, and the shift suggests that some are starting to feel more in control of their retirement planning.”