The majority of the over-50s believe they will continue working well beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, according to a special Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll.
Poll results show almost half of people (48 per cent) aged 50 or more would like to retire before the age of 65. However, a large majority (58 per cent) believe they will end up working beyond the age of 65.
When respondents were asked what age they would like to retire at, most said 60-64 (37 per cent), followed by 65-69 (29 per cent), 70-plus (13 per cent), 55-59 (8 per cent) and 50-54 (2 per cent).
When the same respondents were asked when they thought they were likely to retire in reality, people were more likely to cite an older age. Most said 65-69 (41 per cent), followed by 60-64 (25 per cent), 70-plus (17 per cent), 55-59 (2 per cent). A total of 15 per cent said they did not know.
Younger respondents were more likely to want to retire early, poll results show. Of those aged 50-54, more than half (52 per cent) said they would like to retire at 60 to 64. This figure fell to 40 per cent among those aged 55-59 and 23 per cent among the 60-64 age group.
On the other hand, older respondents were more likely to want to continue working into later years. The proportion of people who wanted to retire at 70 or older was lowest among the 50-54 age group (4 per cent). This rose to 12 per cent among the 55-59 age group, 18 per cent among those aged 60-64 and 33 per cent among those aged 65-69.
Those less well-off were likely to want to work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. For example, 22 per cent of the better-off ABC1 group wanted to retire at 65-69. This figure rose to 37 per cent among the less well-off C2DE group.
On the issue of when people thought they were most likely to retire, older people were more likely to believe they would end up working beyond the traditional retirement age.
While 36 per cent of those aged 50-54 believed they would retire between 65 and 69, this figure rose to 44 per cent among the 55-59 age group and 56 per cent among the 60-64 age group.
The poll was taken last month among a national quota sample of 1,000 people at 100 sampling points in the State. It was conducted between August 1st and 21st.