The New York Budgets

Tag: Denmark

  • One Killed, Others Injured as Train Derails in Denmark

    One Killed, Others Injured as Train Derails in Denmark

    At least one person has died and dozens have been injured after a train collided with a slurry tanker and derailed in southern Denmark, officials have said. Police said the crash occurred between the towns of Tinglev and Kliplev in southern Jutland, near the German border, leaving a 60-year-old woman dead and 27 others injured.

    In an update shortly after midnight, police said a crane was being used at the site to lift some of the damaged carriages to ensure there were no more injured passengers.

    Of the five people seriously injured, two remained in a critical condition in hospital. Local media reported the train as having hit a slurry tanker, which are used to transport farm waste. Pictures from the scene showed a carriage lying on its side, with passengers standing around the train tracks.

    Police said 106 people in total had been involved in the accident. Among the passengers onboard included pupils from a school in nearby Sønderborg, the train’s intended destination.

    None of the students or the two teachers with them were seriously injured, police said, but they had been invited to go into school on Saturday to talk to a psychologist.

    “My thoughts go out to the relatives, the many injured and everyone who is currently affected by the accident,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement to public broadcaster DR.

    “I hope that everyone gets the best possible help and support.”

    The country’s rail operator DSB said that it had shut down services along the line until further notice. The national rail agency Banedanmark wrote on X that the collision happened at a level crossing. At least two of the train carriages were derailed, according to local media.

  • Denmark Raises Retirement Age to 70, the Highest in Europe

    Denmark Raises Retirement Age to 70, the Highest in Europe

    Denmark is set to have the highest retirement age in Europe, after lawmakers voted to raise it to 70.

    Parliamentarians passed a bill mandating the rise on Thursday, with 81 votes in favor and 21 against.

    The new law will apply to people born after December 31, 1970. The current retirement age is 67 on average, but it can go up to 69 for those born on January 1, 1967, or later.

    The rise is needed in order to be able to “afford proper welfare for future generations,” employment minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in a press release Thursday.

    Denmark has a population of almost 6 million people, with around 713,000 between the ages of 60 and 69, and around 580,000 aged between 70 and 79, according to the official Statistics Denmark website.

    “Developments in recent years clearly show a marked increase in the number of Danes who continue to work until — and beyond — the state pension age,” F&P, the Danish trade association for insurance companies and pension funds, said in a press release Friday.

    Approximately 80,000 people over the state pension age are currently in work in Denmark, according to F&P, which put the increase down to good economic conditions, employers being more flexible, better financial incentives and a greater desire to continue working.

    “For many Danes, the idea of the state pension age increasing to 70 by 2040 may seem overwhelming,” Jan V. Hansen, the director of pensions at the association, said in the release. “However, the figures clearly demonstrate that a growing number of Danes are remaining in employment for longer periods.”

    “The good news is that many Danes not only have the health but also the desire to continue working — even after reaching the state pension age,” he continued.

    ‘Unreasonably high’

    Denmark’s socialist Red-Green Alliance, however, described the vote by “the government and the right wing” in a post on Facebook as “unreasonably high,” and condemned the change in light of the “great” pension conditions enjoyed by many ministers who can retire at age 60.

    “It is incomprehensible. It cannot be explained. And it cannot be defended,” Pelle Dragsted, a member of parliament for the party, said in another Facebook post, noting that teachers, scaffolders and many others in physically demanding jobs have said they cannot keep going for that long.

    Denmark is the first European country to set its national retirement age beyond the 60s. The move will make it one of the highest in the world, on par with Libya.

    In France in March 2023, more than a million people took to the streets nationwide to protest a rise in the retirement age to 64 — six years below the new Danish retirement age.

    In September, the Chinese government passed legislation that would see the retirement age for men raised from 60 to 63, and from 50 and 55 for women, depending on their occupation, to 55 and 58, respectively.

    The state pension age in the UK is set to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028, although a review could see it revised to 68.

    While the retirement age in the United States is similar to the UK’s, some Social Security benefits are available from age 62.

    Better health in old age, increased life expectancy and remote working are allowing more Americans to work into old age. However, research shows that it is often a lack of money that keeps them working longer.