Retirees still relying on government pension for income: ABS

The government pension continued to be the most common source of income for retirees in 2024-25, according to the latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The newly released data revealed that 30 per cent of retired women relied on their partner’s income to meet their living costs at retirement compared with 9 per cent of retired men.

For people intending to retire, the main factor influencing their decision about when to retire was financial security.

The ABS statistics also showed that retirees are increasingly relying on superannuation as their main source of income, revealing that between 2014-15 and 2024-25, the proportion of retired people with superannuation as their main source of income increased from 20 per cent to 28 per cent.

Additionally, between 2022-23 and 2024-25, the number of people who reported receiving a lump sum payment from a superannuation scheme increased from 881,000 to 922,000.

According to the ABS, the increase from 2018-19 to 2020-21 reflects the early release of superannuation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed up to $20,000 to be accessed before retirement by people suffering financial hardship.

The latest census data showed that in 2024-25 156,000 of the people aged 45 years and over retired, 55 per cent were women. The average age of retirement was 63.8 years and on average, women retire at an earlier age than men.

Overall, there were a total of 4.5 million people aged 45 years and over who were retired (retirees).

The average age both men and women are retiring is continuing to increase. For men, the average age was 64.9 years and for women the average age was 62.7 years. People working in agriculture, forestry and fishing have, on average, the highest intended retirement age (68.9 years old).

Just over 800,000 people intend to retire in the next five years, and 294,000 in the next two years. Of those who intend to retire, 40 per cent (1.9 million) did not know when they would retire from the labour force, up from 38 per cent in 2022-23.

In 2024-25, the top three reasons retirees ceased their last job were because they reached retirement age or eligible for superannuation (33 per cent), due to their own sickness, injury or disability (13 per cent), or they were retrenched, dismissed or no work available (6 per cent).

Retirees who left their last job due to sickness, injury or disability had the lowest retirement age, on average.

Keeli Cambourne

November 11 2025

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