Working Longer, Living Longer? Retirement Timing, Migration Background and Mortality in Sweden

Sven Drefahl , Stockholm University
Eleonora Trappolini, University of Milan-Bicocca

Population ageing is transforming labour markets and pension systems in high-income countries, leading governments to encourage later retirement. Although delayed retirement is often linked to better health, this link varies with socioeconomic factors and may differ for immigrants, who often work longer due to lower pension entitlements. Sweden offers a valuable context for studying retirement and health, thanks to its flexible system. After the statutory retirement age, individuals can fully or partially retire, or keep working while deferring pensions. This flexibility enables analysis of how retirement timing affects health across subgroups. Building on this context, we use total-population Swedish register data to investigate how retirement timing is associated with mortality among native-born and foreign-born individuals. We distinguish between three post-retirement groups: those who do not receive any pension, those who fully retire and receive a full pension, and those who reduce working hours and receive a partial pension. Mortality risks across these categories are estimated using Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic variables, separately by sex. Our preliminary findings suggest that the mortality advantage of late retirement is substantially reduced among immigrants from low- and middle-income countries compared to native-born individuals. This indicates that extended working lives may not offer the same health benefits for all and may reflect different underlying drivers, such as economic necessity rather than choice. These findings underscore the need to consider migration background in retirement and health research, particularly in ageing societies.

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 Presented in Session 85. Migrant Mortality