Almost three in ten Cypriots up to age 74 continue to work after retirement, the vast majority due to financial necessity, a new Eurostat survey has found.

The official retirement age is 65 but people who have completed their social insurance contribution can retire at 63 with a slightly lower pension.

According to Eurostat, the number of Cypriots who continue working after retirement comes in at 29.6 per cent, almost triple the EU average of 10.3 per cent.

The survey said that 68 per cent of those in Cyprus who do this do so out of financial necessity, the highest percentage in Europe. The remainder do so because they enjoy working.

Across the rest of Europe 28.6 per cent of those who keep working do so for financial reasons and the remainder because they like it.

Estonia had the largest share of people employed and receiving old-age pensions at almost 55 per cent, in Latvia 44.2 per cent, Lithuania 43.7 per cent, Sweden 41.7 per cent and Cyprus 29.6 per cent.

A low percentage of people who retire and continue to work was seen in Belgium 9.4 per cent, Romania 1.7 per cent, Greece 4.2 per cent, Spain 4.9 per cent, Croatia 5 per cent, France 9.9 per cent and Luxembourg 9.7 per cent.

The survey notes that in 11 EU countries the main reason for continuing to work was economic necessity and in 14 countries people enjoyed work after retirement.

Denmark with 61 per cent, the Netherlands with 59.6 per cent and Italy with 51.7 per cent had the highest proportion of people who continued to work because they enjoyed it.

The lowest proportion of people who reported this as the reason were in Spain 17.9 per cent, Cyprus 19.1 per cent and Slovakia 20.4 per cent.

There was also the issue that in some countries the number of people entitled to pensions is lower, or they receive lower amounts, which would prompt many to continue working.

In 2023, only some 45.1 per cent of people aged 50-74 in the EU received some form of pension.

This was broken down into three main categories: those receiving only an old-age pension 39.7 per cent, those receiving only an invalidity pension or disability benefits (4.6 per cent) and those receiving both 0.8 per cent.