Amsterdam - The Dutch are to raise the legal retirement age from 65 to 67, local media reports said Friday.

From 2020, the retirement age will be raised to 66, and from 2025 to 67. Those wanting to retire at 65 would receive lower state pensions.

There would be special provisions for people with disabilities, people who began their careers very young, and those who worked in physically or mentally demanding jobs, a government spokesman said.

The largest opposition party, the liberal VVD who supported raising the legal retirement age, said the present agreement was "too little, too late and too complicated".

Opponents of the new measure, including the Socialist Party and the Greens, both members of the leftist opposition, as well as the rightist Freedom Party, also called the measure "too complicated".

In early October, labour unions and employee associations failed to reach an agreement that could serve as an alternative for the government's the long-term financing of the state pensions.

Raising the legal retirement age first became an issue during the general elections in 2006.

However, it was not until March 2009 that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende made a formal proposal to raise the retirement age to 67. He said the economic crisis had made the move necessary.

Critics of the measure said that raising the legal retirement age was "useless" as long as employers received no incentives to keep elderly - and thus expensive - employees at work.

In 2004, only 70 per cent of men aged 50 to 64 held jobs, while less than half of the women in the same age group did.

Dutch nationals who have resided in the Netherlands between the ages of 15 to 65 are currently entitled to a state pension once they turn 65.

A single person receives a gross monthly income of 1,011 euros (1,488 dollars) compared with 694.19 euros (1,021 dollars) each for a married couple. Aside from this, many people also receive private pensions originating from their former employment. (dpa)