A Dutch fifteen-year-old can expect 44.0 years of working life in 2025. That is the longest in the European Union. Sweden follows with 43.4 years, Denmark with 42.6, and the EU average is 37.5. That is the finding of IPMERC research based on Eurostat figures.
8.5 years were added
In 2000 the Netherlands stood at 35.5 years, somewhere in the European middle. In 2015 it was 39.9, now 44.0. In a quarter century 8.5 years of working life were added. More women went to work, the pension age rose with life expectancy, and early retirement became an exception.
The stretch is used up
That longer working life absorbed ageing for 25 years. People kept retiring later, so their jobs needed replacing later. But at 44 years, another 8.5 won't come. The replacement demand that is coming has to be met by hiring. 19.9% of Dutch workers are 55 to 64.
A lot of part-time work
One caveat: the Netherlands combines the longest working life in the EU with a lot of part-time work. In hours worked per lifetime the lead is smaller than in years. More labour is easier to find in hours than in even more years.
What you can do
- Take a candidate of 55 seriously. Where working life lasts 44 years, that candidate has more than ten years to go until the state pension age.
- Check who in your team retires in the next five years, and start hiring for those roles now.
- Ask part-timers whether they want more hours. There is more room there than in working longer.
Sources: IPMERC, Forty-four years of work (August 2026); Eurostat, duration of working life (lfsi_dwl_a).
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