In many Asian economies, rules differ across pension components. The normal retirement age (NRA) is the eligibility age to pensions without penalty in all schemes combined after a full career from age 22. Where retirement ages differ across schemes the maximum age across schemes thus defines the NRA. The exception to this rule is for targeted schemes that do not even apply to full career workers at low earnings levels.

Table 1.4 shows the rules for both normal and early retirement for mandatory pension schemes. In some schemes, a pension can be claimed earlier then the normal retirement age, from the “early” retirement age onwards, implying benefit penalties.

The early retirement age is the first age at which a pension can be claimed (Table 1.4). It is generally not possible to retire before the standard statutory age within residence‑based basic pensions or for safety-net benefits.

In the Asian economies, it is only possible to retire early in a few countries. Early retirement is at age 50 and age 60 for the FDC schemes in Malaysia and Hong Kong (China), respectively. In Viet Nam early retirement is possible five years before the normal retirement age, which means 55.5 for men and 50.7 for women in 2022, though the retirement ages are currently undergoing increases over the next decade or so.

The OECD defines the normal retirement age in a given country as the age of eligibility of all schemes combined without penalty, based on a full career after labour market entry at age 22. However, at retirement not all of the different components actually apply. For example, men and women in Malaysia, are eligible for the defined contribution component at age 55 but they are not eligible to the targeted pension before age 60. As they would be ineligible for the targeted scheme at age 60 with a full career their normal retirement age is therefore 55 years in 2022 (Figure 1.4).

In 2022, the average normal retirement age was equal to 59.1 years for men and 57.3 years for women across the Asian economies. For the OECD countries it was much higher at 64.4 years for men and 63.6 years for women. It ranges from a low of 50 for women in Sri Lanka and blue‑collar female employees in China, and 55 for men in Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka to 65 in Hong Kong (China) and Singapore for both men and women.

Pension schemes in four Asian economies still specify normal retirement ages by gender setting a lower age for women than for men. The largest gender gap of 5 years are in China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam (Figure 1.4).