---
title: 8 Retirement Styles From Around the World, and the Surprising Joy of Doing Nothing
description: Eight retirement styles from Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and beyond, and how the joy of doing nothing can help you find purpose after retirement.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-22T14:36:01.448Z
updated: 2026-10-22T14:36:44.591Z
canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/retirement-styles-around-the-world-joy-of-doing-nothing
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-7225785.webp
categories: Culture & Society, Lifestyle
content_type: Feature
region: Global
publication: Rich Woman Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Retirement used to be a single event: a leaving party, a clock and a long rest. Today it [looks more like a menu](https://richwoman.co/article/what-to-do-after-retirement), and every country serves it differently. In some places, people keep working well into their seventies. In others, they downsize, pack a caravan or move in with friends. A few cultures have something rarer, a word for doing nothing at all and the confidence to treat it as a pleasure.

Here are eight retirement styles from around the world, with the idea worth borrowing from each, and a closer look at why the hardest one to master may be the most rewarding.

## 1. Japan: the working seventies

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