Slovakia and Hungary pension reforms confront aging workforces

Eurostat data shows the average Slovak citizen now works about 36 years, a figure that places Slovakia in the lower half of EU averages and highlights rising automation risk in its auto industry. Recent Slovak pension legislation removed a fixed retirement age, linking pension eligibility to life expectancy and introducing an automatic increase mechanism, while also tightening rules on early retirement and limiting supplementary pension payments.

In Hungary, demographers warn that life expectancy is reaching historic highs while fertility has fallen sharply. Experts predict that by 2030 one in four Hungarians will be aged 65 or older, rising to nearly one‑third by 2050. The combination of longer lives and fewer births threatens the sustainability of the Hungarian pension system, prompting calls for reforms to address the looming demographic burden.