Insee Première · May 2023 · n° 1946

In 2021, one out of every six people aged 55 to 69 was neither employed nor retired, a situation that is most often suffered

In France, 16% of people aged 55 to 69 were neither employed nor retired in 2021. This percentage increased as the legal retirement age approached, reaching 28%
of 61-year-olds, before decreasing significantly.

The majority of people neither employed nor retired aged 55 to 61 were women (59%) and more often have few or no diplomas: 42%, twice as many as people in employment at the same age. Most of them suffer from their situation: 45% of the people neither in employment nor retired aged 55 to 61 were inactive because of health or disability, 19% did not have a job despite an active search and were therefore unemployed according to the ILO.

In Germany, the percentage of old people neither employed nor retired is also high before the legal retirement age, which is later than in France: it is 21% at age 64.