UK has second highest level of over-60s in work, new EU figures show The highest employment rates for those aged 60 to 64 were recorded in Sweden, at 61 per cent, the United Kingdom, 44 per cent, an increase of 8 per cent over 10 years, and Estonia 42.8 per cent, according to the figures published on Friday. The British pension age will increase to 67 in 2026, rising to 68 or older for people born after April 1968, a trend that is mirrored across the EU. Lazlo Andor, the European commissioner for employment and social affairs, warned that the EU would demand the "inevitable rise of the retirement age" across the EU by 2030 despite popular opposition. The commission is not going to tell individual countries exactly how to set the retirement age. But we insist on certain principles such as the link between rising life expectancy and retirement," he said. The EU research also shows widely differing definitions of young and old differ significantly across European countries. In Malta, Portugal and Sweden, people under 37 years are considered young, whereas in Cyprus and Greece people are considered young up to the age of 50. On average, Europeans believe that we start being regarded as old just before 64 and are no longer considered young from the age of 42 years.