Pension reform: Swiss to vote on retirement age hike for women

The Swiss will vote on September 25 on government plans to reform the pension system, which include raising the retirement age for women from 64 to 65, the age when men retire.

There would also be a hike in value-added tax on goods and services to help pay for pensions and make the system financially sustainable as the Swiss population ages.

Left-wing politicians and trade unions launched a referendum against raising the retirement age after collecting the required 50,000 signatures. Some women’s groups are particularly concerned about the reform, given that they already have on average much lower pensions than men.

There are also fears among opponents of the changes that the reforms will open the way to raising the universal retirement age to 67, while those in favour of the revision say it is vital to act given the demographic shift and looming pension funding gap.

Several attempts to adapt the Swiss pension system have failed at the ballot box over the past 30 years, notably in 2017.