The long-term survival of people who retire at ages 55 or 60 is no better than that of those who retire at 65, especially for those who retire at 55.

On the contrary, mortality improved with increasing age at retirement for people from both high and low economic groups.

Several studies found lower survival among those retiring early and attributed this to poor health status forcing early retirement.

Although some workers retired at 55 because of failing health, these results clearly show that early retirement is not associated with increased survival. On the contrary, mortality improved with increasing age at retirement for people...