> * Currently there is only 1.7 active contributors per retiree! Productivity has been raising continuously for the past 60 years in France. They are producing

> * Currently there is only 1.7 active contributors per retiree! Productivity has been raising continuously for the past 60 years in France. They are producing more wealth than they ever have. The number of people does not matter it's what we are able to produce which matters. I would be way more worried about the climate than the number of people in bullshit jobs. As for retirees themselves, a way bigger problem is the amount of wealth they hold versus active contributors thanks to the insane housing market. This is the real problem and what they should address. > * There are 5% more retirees each year these days (700,000 new retirees each year). Double the newborn number each year. You are probably aware that newborns have a way longer life expectancy than retirees. > * 331 billion euros of pension system expenditure in 2019. 3 times the number paid in the 1980'. Seems irrelevant without controlling all the variables that changed in 40+ years... > More than what the French state gets from taxes. That's because several generations of government in France have been choking the state revenue with a lot of tax breaks (capital tax, cuts on cotisations, ISF, etc) and so called "niches". And before you jump and give me the "but France has the highest taxation rate!!!!", please refer to me previous comment [0]. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35186458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35186458