The report says the measures also increased public debt and may have weighed on employment and potential economic growth. Their cumulative cost was close to the €45.2 billion spent on anti-poverty measures over the same period.
The schemes included Quota 100, later replaced by Quota 102 and Quota 103, as well as Opzione Donna and a freeze on adjustments to early-retirement contribution requirements based on life expectancy. The 2026 budget tightened some flexible exit routes, while the League has proposed allowing certain workers who began contributing before 1996 to retire at 64.
In 2025, the average age at which people retired from the largest public and private-sector funds was about 64.9, below the standard old-age pension age of 67. The average age for early retirement was 61.8.
The report also highlights the demographic pressure on the system: there were 27.4 people aged 65 or older for every 100 people of working age in 2001, and 39 in 2025. It projects that ratio to reach 62 by 2045.