German MPs raise retirement age

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The German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, has voted to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67.

Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, and on current trends the population aged over 65 will almost double to 30% by 2035.

The plan means that anyone born in 1964 or later will have to wait until they are 67 to collect a state pension.

It is expected to be approved by the upper house, the Bundesrat. It will be phased in gradually from 2012 to 2029.

The Bundestag also approved a bill designed to attract people born after 1945, the "baby boomers", back into the labour market, to cut the cost of the country's ageing population.

In 2005, only 685,000 babies were born in Germany, while 830,000 people died. Germany has a birthrate of 1.36 per woman, one of the lowest in Europe.