Colombia Retirement Age Debate: Petro Rejects Raising Women’s Age to 62
COLOMBIA · PENSIONS
Key Facts
- —The rule today Women in Colombia can draw a state pension at 57 and men at 62, ages unchanged since 2014.
- —The idea Supreme Court president Iván Mauricio Lenis said on 29 September 2026 that women should retire at the same age as men.
- —The pushback Former president Gustavo Petro wrote on 30 September 2026 that a higher pension age means more exploitation of working people.
- —The gap Retired women receive pensions 28% lower than men’s, Javeriana University’s Labour Observatory found, as reported by El Colombiano on 30 September 2026.
- —What changes now Nothing: only Congress can change retirement ages, and no new age or timetable has been set.
The Colombia retirement age debate split into two camps on Wednesday: a former president and feminist economists against, pension specialists in favour.
The Colombia retirement age debate split the country’s economists and politicians on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Former president Gustavo Petro rejected raising women’s pension age from 57 to 62, while several pension specialists backed it.
A judge’s idea becomes a national argument
The argument began a day earlier, with the Supreme Court chief’s proposal on the radio programme Mañanas Blu. Iván Mauricio Lenis presides over the Corte Suprema de Justicia, Colombia’s top court for civil, criminal and labour cases.
He said women should retire at the same age as men. Both ages may need to rise as people live longer, he added. He noted that many countries set retirement near 65, and some at 67 or 68.
Lenis spoke as a judge, not a lawmaker, and only Congress can change pension ages. He has not said how fast any change should come.
Petro: a higher age means more exploitation
Gustavo Petro, who led Colombia from 2022 until August 2026, answered on his X account. “Raising the pension age is raising the working day,” he wrote.
It means “more exploitation of the people who work” and “more profits for the owners of the factories and the land”. El País, the Cali newspaper, reported that Petro framed the change as favouring the richest Colombians.
Petro also argued that women retire earlier because they earn less for the same work. He said unpaid housework is real work that enriches society.
The case for one age
Andrés Felipe Izquierdo heads Integral Soluciones Pensionales, a pension advisory firm. He told El Colombiano he fully supports opening the discussion. Colombia recorded fewer than 500,000 births last year, he said, the fifth straight annual fall.
“Age cannot remain the obstacle that is leading us to a fiscal default,” Izquierdo said. A smaller young workforce means fewer contributors for each pensioner.
Luz Karime Abadía, dean of economics at Javeriana University in Bogotá, wants a gradual rise for women. Retiring earlier, she said, means fewer years to save and more years to finance.
On a debate programme of the magazine Semana, Universidad del Rosario professor Cristina Fernández Mejía also backed the idea. Lawyer Fabio Humar said Petro treats work as a punishment, while work can bring women economic independence.
The case for keeping the gap
Feminist economist Alejandra Miller rejected the proposal outright. Women retire earlier “precisely to advance equity”, she told El Colombiano, as compensation for a lifetime of care and child-rearing.
Miller listed further reasons: higher unemployment for women, a wage gap and more violence against them. Colombia’s Constitutional Court has also cited discrimination when it cut the weeks of contributions women need.
That ruling, from 2023, is lowering women’s requirement from 1,300 weeks towards 1,000 by 2036. The weeks matter as much as the age, because many women never reach the minimum.
What the numbers say about women’s pensions
Javeriana University’s Labour Observatory found that women are 11% less likely than men to get a pension. Those who do receive payments 28% lower.
A retired woman receives an average of COP 1.4 million a month, about US$420. A retired man receives COP 1.9 million, about US$570, at the 30 September 2026 exchange rate.
The same research found women spend 21 hours a week on unpaid care at home, against eight hours for men. More than 90% of employed women earn under three minimum wages, according to DANE, the national statistics office.
Economist Germán Machado said the age gap itself works against women. Women have half the chance of a pension that men have, he said. The earlier age explains almost half of that difference.
Mauricio Salazar-Saenz of Javeriana’s Fiscal Observatory pointed to Chile. There, men and women retire at the same age, and mothers receive a pension bonus for each child instead.
A system under strain from several sides
Money is part of the pressure. Colombia spends 12% of its national budget on the 5% of people who receive a pension, Salazar-Saenz said. Only one in four older adults has one.
Lenis also pointed to the COP 5 trillion, about US$1.5 billion, that Colpensiones needs for the November and December pension payments. Colpensiones is the state pension administrator.
It has asked to delay the 2024 pension reform, now due on 1 April 2027, until April 2028. The reform sends contributions on wages up to 2.3 minimum salaries to Colpensiones.
The opposition is pulling the other way. Former president Álvaro Uribe and his Centro Democrático party want savings to flow mainly to private funds. They also want transfers into Colpensiones frozen, HSB Noticias reported.
The party would also cut that threshold to one minimum salary. In early September, the plan still had to be drafted and formally filed in Congress.
What it means for workers and residents
For now, foreign residents and Colombians alike face the same rules: 57 for women, 62 for men. The ages moved before, from 55 and 60, under a 2003 law that took effect in 2014.
Any new change would need a fresh law passed by Congress. Past reforms protected workers close to retirement, and gave everyone else years of notice.
More: Colombia news, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the retirement age in Colombia?
Women can claim an old-age pension at 57 and men at 62. Both must also have paid in for a minimum number of weeks. For women, that minimum falls each year until it reaches 1,000 in 2036.
Has Colombia raised the retirement age for women?
No. Supreme Court president Iván Mauricio Lenis proposed on 29 September 2026 that women retire at the same age as men. Only Congress can change the ages, and no change has been made.
Who opposes an equal pension age in Colombia?
Former president Gustavo Petro and feminist economist Alejandra Miller argued that the earlier age compensates women for unpaid care and lower pay. Several pension specialists and economists support a gradual rise instead.
Sources: El Colombiano · El País (Cali) · El País (Cali) · El Diario · HSB Noticias
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times