The government appears to have already decided to freeze the increase in retirement age limits.
Retirement applications to the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) reached historical highs in 2025, confirming concerns about the mass exit of workers from the labor market and the acceleration of the aging of the Greek population.
Kathimerini understands that from January 1 to December 31, 2025, a total of 225,803 retirement applications were submitted, a record going back to 2017, the year EFKA was established and started operating.
This figure even exceeds previous highs, such as in 2021, when 212,151 applications were recorded, and confirms experts’ estimates that the exit flow will remain intense at least until 2027, when the baby boomer generation is expected to have left the labor market. This is the generation that consists of those born between 1946-1964, characterized by a significant increase in births, as it experienced an economic boom and major social changes and is now on the threshold of retirement, if they have not already retired.
In 2025, in addition to the negative record with the massive outflow of insured people from the labor market and their entry into the ever-growing group of retirees, EFKA also recorded a critical success: 236,637 new pensions were issued, i.e. more than those submitted. The result was a reduction in the stock of pending applications, which prevents – for the time being – the creation of a new backlog in the system.
Social security experts agree that the increased flow of retirements is due to three main factors: concern about changes in age limits, the favorable regulations for the employment of retirees and the fear of a possible new intervention in the system.
Experts warn that the mass exodus from work combined with the demographic challenge may not create any obvious sustainability problem in the medium term, but will constitute the main challenge for the coming years: The question is whether the social security system will be able to maintain these rates without excessively burdening the budget and without the reappearance of pending issues that have plagued thousands of insured people in the past.