Half of people in the Netherlands are in work until reaching the state retirement age but those with higher levels of education are more likely to have a job, a new CBS analysis shows.

The statistics office bases its finding on the income source people had in the year before their retirement in 2016, when the state pension age was 65.

Of this group, half had paid work on retiring, while 21% had no income from work or benefits, for instance because their partner was the main breadwinner. Almost one in five were claiming invalidity benefit and 11% received welfare benefits or unemployment benefits.

People with a higher level of education were more likely to be in work before they retired. This was the case for 71% of men and 55% of women. Some 43% of women without higher education had no income at all prior to stopping work.