Retirement is the withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from one’s active working life.
A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.
Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their job for health reasons.
People may also retire when they are eligible for pension benefits, when forced to retire when bodily conditions no longer allow the person to work any longer by illness or accident or as a result of legislation concerning age..
The idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, as previously, a low life expectancy, lack of social security and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until their death.
Most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in old age, funded by employers or the state.
In many poorer countries, there is no support for the elderly beyond that provided through the family.
Today, retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies.
Prior to the 18th century, humans had an average life expectancy between 26 and 40 years.
Only a small percentage of the population reached an age where physical impairments began to be obstacles to working.
A person may retire at whatever age they please.
The standard retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 50 and 70.
The retirement age in many countries is increasing.
Greater wealth tends to lead to earlier retirement since wealthier individuals can essentially purchase additional leisure.
Receiving an inheritance increases the probability of retiring earlier than expected by 4.4 percentage points, or 12 percent relative to the baseline retirement rate.
Individuals in poor health generally retire earlier than those in better health.
In general, declining health over time, as well as the onset of new health conditions, have been found to be positively related to earlier retirement.
Most people are married when they reach retirement age, and spouse’s employment status may affect one’s decision to retire.
On average, husbands are three years older than their wives in the U.S., and spouses often coordinate their retirement decisions.
Thus, men are more likely to retire if their wives are also retired than if they are still in the labor force, and vice versa.
Researchers analyzed factors affecting retirement decisions in EU member states:
Having more members in the household, and as well as children, has a negative effect on the probability of retirement among older males.
Socio-demographic factors such as health and gender have a strong impact on the retirement decision: women tend to retire earlier than men, and poor health makes people go into retirement, particularly in the case of disability retirement.
Heads of large households prefer not to retire.
Health status is significant factor in all early retirements; poor health conditions are especially significant if respondents join to disability benefit scheme.
As life expectancy increases and the health of older people improves with medical advances, the age of entitlement to a pension has been increasing progressively.
The newly retired are one of the most vulnerable social groups to become depressed, likely due to retirement coinciding with a deteriorating health status and increased care-giving responsibilities.
Retirement coincides with deterioration of one’s health that correlates with increasing age and this likely plays a major role in increased rates of depression in retirees.
Healthy elderly and retired people are as happy or happier and have an equal quality of life as they age as compared to younger employed adults, therefore retirement in and of itself is not likely to contribute to development of depression.
Retirees likely to have a fulfilling life after retiring experience the most important factors of physical comfort and well-being, social integration, contribution to society, security, autonomy and enjoyment.