What’s making the French so angry is a new retirement age that will still be one of the lowest in the industrialized world. Under a new law, pushed through parliament without a vote last week, the retirement age for most French workers will be raised from 62 to 64. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. Protesters in Bordeaux, western France, on March 23, 2023 Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesState pensions in France are also more generous than elsewhere. The French government has defended the retirement reform — which includes other changes — as necessary to keep the pension system funded.

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