Expected duration of working life in Malta is 38.4 years, above EU average

The expected duration of working life for 15-year-olds in Malta averaged 38.4 years in 2023, according to Eurostat data published on Thursday (today).

The EU average stood at 36.9 years. This is the fourth consecutive year that Malta has surpassed the EU average.

In fact, since the COVID-19 pandemic, Malta’s duration of working life has risen sharply by 2.4 years from 2020’s 36.2 years.

In contrast, the EU average has increased at a much slower pace, going up from 35.6 years in 2020 to 2023’s 36.9 years. While the expected average has steadily increased since 2013, it declined for the first time in 2020, linked to the COVID-19 health crisis, yet it has since returned to its pre-pandemic level.

The data measures the expected number of years that a person, at the current age of 15 years, is expected to remain in the labour force throughout their life. It is estimated using the life expectancy and the share of employed and unemployed people in the population for each age.

In 2023, some of the durations in the EU exceeded 40 years, with the highest being recorded in the Netherlands (43.7 years), Sweden (43.1 years), and Denmark (41.3 years). Conversely, the lowest working life durations were recorded in Romania (32.2 years), Italy (32.9 years), and Croatia (34 years).

When considering countries for which Eurostat data is available for, but are not part of the EU, Iceland had the longest duration of working life with 45.7 years, while Türkiye had the lowest with 29.9 years.

The data also indicated that men tend to have longer working lives than women in the EU.

Indeed, the expected duration of working life was 39 years for men, while for women it stood at 34.7 years.

Malta had one of the longest durations for men with 41.6 years, tied with Cyprus and only beaten by Iceland (47.6 years), the Netherlands (45.7 years), Switzerland (44.7 years), Sweden (44.1 years), Denmark and Ireland (42.8 years), and Norway (42.5 years).

For women, the local average stood right on the EU average at 34.7 years.