While the average Australian works longer based on a higher retirement age, they still are ignoring the government request to retire at age 67. However, data from the Bureau of Statistics released on Monday found that the average retirement age is 58.5 for male workers and 50 for females.

It is still an improvement from 53.8 years old a year ago.

However, 66 per cent of workers who are 45 years and older said they plan to retire at 65 or even older, while 17 per cent said they plan to work until they reach 70 or older. Another 25 per cent pick the ages between 60 and 64 as their ideal retirement age, while 9 per cent plan to retire before they reach 60.

Given these numbers, the bureau said that based on retirement intentions of Aussie workers, government plans to hike the retirement age to 67 could face some resistance from older employees.

The Productivity Commission has actually suggested even raising the pension age to 70 from 67, but the proposal was thumbed down by the federal government.

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About 49 per cent of the future retirees expect their main source of income to come from superannuation, annuity or allocated pension, although in reality on 17 per cent reported these as their main sources of income.

Over 50 per cent of males and 42 per cent of female retirees list government pension as their main source of funds after retirement, while 44 per cent of women pointed to their partner's income.

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