WEEKLY E-MAIL

22 April 2025

AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT TRENDS

By Karen Maher

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest data on retirement patterns and plans of people aged 45 years and over, during the 2022-23 Financial Year.

Key Highlights for the 2022-23 Financial Year:

• Australian retirees numbered a total of 4.2 million
• The average age at retirement (of all retirees) was 56.9 years
• A total of 130,000 people retired, with an average retirement age of 64.8 years
• The average age at which people now intend to retire is 65.4 years
• The Age Pension remains the main source of income for most retirees

Age Trends

Of the 130,000 people who retired in this reporting period, the average age at retirement was 64.8 years; however, for men, the average age was 66.9 years, and for women, the average was 63.2 years.

Graph 3 – Average age at retirement by year of retirement, 2022-23

Income Sources

The Age Pension continues to be the primary income source for most retirees. Encouragingly, more retirees – especially women – are now drawing income from superannuation, highlighting the growing impact of the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) introduced in 1992. This trend suggests a gradual shift away from reliance on government support.

In addition, retirees with no personal income (i.e., those not receiving any government pension or superannuation income, relying on family members or partners, selling assets, or using savings) decreased to around 18% for women but increased slightly to 4% for men.

Graph 7 – Main source of income at retirement

State Variations

Retirement patterns varied across states and territories:

• South Australia had the highest proportion of retirees (46% of individuals).
• Queensland recorded the largest increase in retirees (+32,000).
• Tasmania had the largest decrease in proportion of retirees (49% to 46%).

Graph 9 – Proportion of retirees by state and territory

Retirement Intentions

The report indicates people are intending to retire, on average, at 65.4 years – a slight decrease from 2020-21 (65.5 years) and 2018-19 (65.6 years). Approximately 710,000 individuals plan to retire within the next five years, with 226,000 expecting to retire within two years.

Conclusion

Australians continue to retire, on average, between the ages of 65 and 66. Although the average age at which people intend to retire has gradually increased over the years, it has remained relatively stable, between 65.0 and 65.6 years, since 2014-15.

The retirement landscape is evolving. Gender gaps in retirement are narrowing, and superannuation is playing a larger role in retirement income, particularly for women. In 2022-23, the difference in retirement age between men and women was about six months, compared to one year a decade ago, and two years two decades prior.

Karen Maher
Associate

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at karen@gfmwealth.com.au

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