The head of the National Retirement Association, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Ansari, disagreed with Sulaiman Humaid, Governor of the Social Insurance Organization, that there is a worldwide trend against early retirement. Al-Ansari said early retirement provides younger people with the opportunity to participate in the country's development. “Reality requires encouraging early retirement not increasing the regulatory age for retirement. Otherwise we will lose the benefit of the skills and energy of the nation's youth who will face unemployment.” The number of pensioners has reached 600,000. Meanwhile, the Retirement Association in Dammam has submitted different proposals to relevant authorities to raise the age of retirement to 65 for civilians working in other than the teaching and training fields, and to add five years more to the retirement age of military personnel, in addition to raising the retirement age to 70 for university teachers and trainers with a master's degree.
