Britain’s state pension age could be raised to 75 unless the country’s plummeting birth rate is addressed, a leading think tank has warned.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has sounded the alarm that approximately three million women across the United Kingdom are on course to never have children if present demographic patterns continue.
According to the think tank’s latest analysis, this trajectory would result in 600,000 fewer births compared with earlier generations of British women.
The report, which has the backing of former Conservative MP Miriam Cates, paints a troubling picture of the nation’s fertility outlook and its potential consequences for both individuals and the broader economy.
The state pension age could be raised to as high as 75
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The CSJ identifies several interconnected factors driving this demographic shift, including a marked decline in marriage rates, women starting families at increasingly older ages, and young men taking longer to reach traditional markers of adulthood.
To reverse these trends, the think tank recommends encouraging men to wed and join the workforce at younger ages.
Furthermore, the report advocates for “pro-natal” measures such as tax reductions designed to make having children more financially viable for couples.
However, the CSJ emphasises that tackling the marriage rate decline must come first, arguing that fiscal incentives alone cannot address the underlying cultural shifts.
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Concerningly, the think tank cautions that persistently low fertility rates could force the government to raise the state pension age to 75 by 2039 in order to preserve the current ratio of workers to retirees.
CSJ analysis indicates that maintaining roughly 280 pensioners per 1,000 working-age people, equivalent to approximately three and a half workers supporting each pensioner, would require substantial increases to the retirement age.
The report warns that immigration has only temporarily concealed the effects of declining birth rates, with fewer workers shouldering ever-greater tax burdens to support an ageing population.
It suggests the triple lock on pensions may ultimately prove unsustainable, potentially leaving future pensioners with diminished state support.
What would the state pension age need to be raised to?
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CENTRE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Former Conservative MP Miriam Cates, who serves as Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social Justice, said: “Millions of women still hope to start a family. But modern life is pushing that dream further out of reach.
“We need to stop treating families as an afterthought and do much more to support women who want to become mothers.”
She added that when hundreds of thousands of women cannot have the families they desired, the ramifications extend beyond personal heartbreak to wider social and economic damage.
Ms Cates argued that British politics has long favoured older voters whilst neglecting younger families, urging policymakers to make family formation a national priority once more.