French retirees are, quite literally, winning retirement. Thanks to a relatively low retirement age, generous state pensions, and a high wage replacement rate, many older French citizens are now taking home more income than people still on the job—just as their government is trying to rein in the system.
While many boomers in the U.S. and U.K. are unretiring or picking up extra work because they can’t afford to stop, France’s pensioners aren’t just putting their feet up—they’re, on average, out-earning those who are still working.
According to a Financial Times analysis of a recent Luxembourg Income Study, French people over 65 now receive higher incomes relative to the average salary of working-age adults. At the end of 2022, the average pensioner brought in about €1,626 gross per month (around $1,926) and currently earns roughly 2% more than the typical working adult.
That gap may seem small, but it’s a sharp contrast to the pattern in most other countries. In the U.S., retirees earn about one-sixth less relative income than working adults. In the U.K., retirees make roughly a fifth less, and in Australia, the disparity is wider still—retirees there take home about a third less.
This isn’t a sudden shift, either. Between 1970 and 2020, the median income for French adults aged 18 to 64 roughly doubled. Over the same 50-year period, the median income for retirees increased by more than 160%, giving older French citizens a clear financial edge.
Why retirement works better in France
French retirees benefit from both more manageable living costs and a pension system that has long been treated as a political priority. The national pension framework allows retirees to receive up to 50% of their average annual earnings, according to the Centre of European and International Liaisons for Social Security (Cleiss).
That average is based on the person’s 25 best-earning years—the gross earnings on which contributions were paid. To qualify for a full state pension, however, workers must contribute for at least 42 years.
France has also steadily increased how much it spends on its older population. Since 2001, its share of GDP devoted to old-age benefits and health or care services has risen by about 2.9%, the FT analysis found. In comparable countries, the average increase has been just over 1.5%.
The result is a level of support many other nations don’t come close to matching. As of 2023, France spends about 14% of its GDP on public pensions. The U.S., by comparison, allocates around 7%.
French retirees also enjoy a higher pension replacement rate—how much of their pre-retirement income is replaced by their pension. In the U.S., the average net replacement rate is about 50%. In France, it’s roughly 74%, meaning French workers get back a far larger share of their former income when they retire.
On top of that, they can access those benefits sooner. While Americans typically can’t collect full Social Security retirement benefits until age 66 or 67, French workers have traditionally been able to start drawing their pensions at a younger age.
Americans are ‘living the nightmare’ in retirement
The combination of weaker pension benefits and higher living costs has pushed many Americans to stay in the workforce longer than they’d like, often out of fear that their savings won’t last.
More than two in five retired Americans—about 20 million people—worry they don’t have enough money to support the retirement lifestyle they want, according to an April survey from investment banking firm D.A. Davidson. Many also feel uneasy about fully stepping back from paid work: Around 60% of retirees say they wish they had a side gig to help top up their savings.
For a significant share, retirement feels bleak rather than comfortable. Nearly 20% of American retirees say they’re either “struggling” or “living the nightmare,” while only 5% describe themselves as “living the dream,” according to Schroders’ 2025 U.S. Retirement Survey.
France’s golden years may not stay so golden
French retirees may currently enjoy more years of post-work freedom than Americans who continue working into their 70s, but that balance may be changing.
In 2023, then–Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne unveiled a plan to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. When President Emmanuel Macron echoed the push to align France’s retirement age more closely with other Western nations, the backlash was intense.
Part of the pressure comes from the sheer cost of sustaining such a generous system. Funding pensions has become so expensive that, by 2024, spending on retirees accounted for roughly one-sixth of the ministry of defense’s budget—an unmistakable sign that France’s comfortable retirement model may be heading for a reckoning.
