Australian government plans to raise pension entitlement age to 70 by 2035

The Australian government said yesterday that it wants to raise the age for pension entitlement to 70 - the highest in the developed world - by 2035 to help cope with its ageing population.

Treasurer Joe Hockey said the previous Labor government planned to raise the age from 65 to 67 in 2023 and the new administration of conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott wanted to take it further by 2035.

"Increasing the pension entitlement age to 70, we are intending for that to occur in 21 years' time," said Hockey, who is due to hand down his first national budget on May 13.

Australia has no statutory retirement age but men have been entitled to the pension at age 65 and women at 60 since it was introduced in 1908.

While no members of the OECD group of rich countries yet have an official retirement age as high as 70, the effective age for men in Japan and South Korea is close to this despite an official retirement age of 60, a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.

Hockey said any Australians getting the pension now would not be affected but he stressed the government's view that the "age of entitlement" was over.