Malta saw the biggest increase of working life in the EU between 2005 and 2015, official figures issued today show. 

The expected duration of working life increased in all EU member states, albeit to different extents. It rose most in Malta (+5.1 years), followed by Hungary (+4.2 years), Luxembourg (+3.1 years), Estonia (+3.0 years) and Lithuania (+2.9 years), while it remained nearly the same in Denmark (+0.2 year), Portugal (+0.3 year) and Ireland (+0.4 year).  

The overall increase in duration of working life was generally driven across member states by the change in women's duration of working life. This latter has increased between 2005 and 2015 in all EU states, notably in Malta (+8.6 years), Spain (+5.1 years), Luxembourg (+4.7 years), Hungary (+4.0 years), Cyprus (+3.6 years), Lithuania (+3.5 years), Germany and Austria (+3.4 years each). In contrast, duration of working life for men has dropped in five Member States: Cyprus (-1.9 years), Greece (-1.4 years), Ireland (-1.0 year), Spain (-0.7 year), and Portugal (-0.6 year).

The expected duration of working life in the European Union (EU) stood at 35.4 years on average in 2015, up by 1.9 years compared with 2005. In detail over this 10-year period, duration of working life has increased more rapidly for women (32.8 years in 2015 compared with 30.2 years in 2005, or +2.6 years) than for men (37.9 years in 2015 vs. 36.7 years in 2005, or +1.2 year).

Among the EU member states, working life in 2015 was expected to be longest on average in Sweden (41.2 years) and shortest in Italy (30.7 years). In Malta it is 33.4 years, according to Eurostat.