Cyprus pension system ageing population, Digi Mart USA News (Cyprus): The proportion of elderly people relative to the working-age population in Cyprus is projected to more than double by 2080, according to a new European Commission report published in November 2026 and reported by Philenews. The report, titled The 2027 Ageing Report: Underlying Assumptions and Projection Methodologies, sets out demographic and economic scenarios for the coming five decades.
The report arrives as the Labour Ministry finalises consultations with social partners and prepares to submit to parliament the first major overhaul of Cyprus’s pension system since 1980. According to the source, the findings are long-term projections rather than immediate forecasts, but they serve as an early warning about pension sustainability.
According to the Commission’s figures, the old-age dependency ratio, which measures people aged 65 and over against the working-age population aged 20–64, is projected to rise from 30.0% in 2025 to 73.2% in 2080. The economic old-age dependency ratio, comparing economically inactive people over 65 with those employed, is projected to climb from 33.6% to 78.0% over the same period.
By 2080, the report estimates there would be about 1.3 workers for every economically inactive person aged over 65, compared with roughly three in 2025.
Migration is the main driver of projected population growth. Net migration is equivalent to 1.4% of the population in 2025 and is projected to settle at 0.5% over the longer term.
The population is expected to rise from roughly one million in 2025 to 1.1 million by 2080, but the report indicates migration alone will not reverse the ageing trend. The average number of births per woman is projected to rise only from 1.31 in 2025 to 1.48 in 2080, still below the replacement level of about 2.1.
Life expectancy is also expected to increase. Women reaching 65 today can expect to live another 22.5 years on average, and men another 19.9 years.
By 2080, the report projects average ages reached of 91.6 for women and 89.3 for men. Because Cyprus’s legal framework links the retirement age to life expectancy gains, the Commission projects the average age of leaving the labour market to rise by about 3.5 years, to 68.0 for women and 68.6 for men by 2080.
The report also highlights a gap in data on supplementary pensions, often called the second and third pillars. According to the source, Cyprus is among the few countries for which international databases, including those maintained by the OECD, lack information on assets held by occupational pension schemes and provident funds.
The source notes that maintaining current state pension replacement rates could require either lower state pensions or higher contributions.
On the economic side, the report projects average annual potential GDP growth of 1.6% for 2026–2080, compared with a eurozone average of 1.0%. From the early 2030s, however, labour’s contribution to growth is expected to turn negative, leaving labour productivity as the main driver.
The report’s figures are projections, and the source describes them as an early warning rather than a certainty.
