FRANKFURT, Germany — With cheap health care, easy travel, and generous retirement benefits, many European pensioners enjoy the good life. But shrinking birth rates and a rapidly aging population mean that seniors face an uncertain future — prompting governments to think hard about how to ward off a looming pension crisis.

Fearful that their governments are moving too slowly to ensure their retirements, many soon-to-be pensioners and younger workers are banding together and campaigning for measures to plug the pensions hole.

Governments from Germany to Britain have decided that one way to ward off a shortfall is to increase the retirement age by two or three years above the typical 65. That's hardly welcome news to people looking forward to a life less taxing.

"My husband and I have been working since we were 15 and here we are at 53 years old being told that we are not going to get our full pensions," said Gaynor Stowers, a technical clerk for the Southhampton City Council in Britain. "They should give us what all we've paid into the pension — about 67 pounds (about $117) a month."

Britain currently has a retirement system based on a small state pension paid to everyone who has worked, supplemented by more lucrative private pensions. But the state pension has steadily lost value because it increases in line with prices, not average pay. Private pensions, meanwhile, are being eroded by higher taxes, stock market underperformance and mismanagement.

Because of that, the Pensions Commission — set up by the government to stave off a funding crisis — has recommended increasing the retirement age to 68 by 2050 and linking payments to earnings, not inflation.

Critics contend that could lead to employers being forced to make contributions to the state pension system — and lead to lower wages and job cuts. Britain's National Insurance system is funded by monthly employee contributions, most of which are used to pay health care costs with a smaller portion going to pensions.

"I started paying into the local pension when I was 19," said Adrian Jones, 51, a housing development officer for the Birmingham City Council. "At that time, you take the advice of the government for the future — pay into a pension. You never think that they will deceive you and just take it away from you."

Those fears prompted more than 1 million public workers to strike on March 28, shutting down thousands of schools and stopping public transport for the day.

It's a worldwide concern. As the work force ages and birthrates plummet, there is less money going into pension systems and millions of people looking to retirement. With fewer young people joining the work force, the postwar generation that is about to retire can't count on those still on the job to keep pensions funded.

In the U.S., bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. plans to freeze pension benefits for hourly workers on Oct. 1 and for salaried workers on Jan. 1 and replace them with plans that require employee contributions with company matches.

In Israel, one of the biggest surprises of last month's parliamentary elections was the strong showing of the Pensioners Party — which took seven seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The party's leader, 79-year-old Rafi Eitan, campaigned on a pledge to fight for pensioners' rights.

In Greece, pensions and health care are costing the country nearly 5 percent of gross domestic product, the privately held Alpha Bank reported earlier this month. That figure is expected to rise to 11.1 percent of GDP by 2030 unless the system is reformed.

But doing so has proven vexing. Conservative Premier Costas Caramanlis has asked the country's labor unions, political parties and employers to hold talks on how to reform pensions but no action is expected until after 2008 when he leaves office.

In March, Greek bank workers struck over minor pension reforms. The last major attempt by the previous Socialist government to tinker with the system led to massive demonstrations in 2002-2003 that nearly took down the government.

The Netherlands faces similar problems in financing the rising cost of state benefits for its aging population. The government's Statistics Netherlands said that the number of people aged 65 or over will double by 2040 from its current 2 million.

With early retirement and pre-pension plans available only on a pay-as-you-go basis, it may fall to the government in a few years to ensure that its residents are taken care of in retirement.

Those seeking early retirement are out of luck. As of the beginning of this year, the government doesn't offer full pensions to people who opt to retire before age 65.

The pension systems of Scandinavian countries have remained in relatively good financial shape, even with the legendary benefits offered to the residents there.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development consistently ranks Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden among the top eight countries when it comes to pension wealth.

The Swedish retirement system is funded both through the country's high taxes, sometimes up to 52 percent, and by companies paying annual pension fees for their employees.

In Denmark, the government on April 4 presented its vision for Denmark's generous welfare state in the face of an aging population. The plan included raising Denmark's retirement age by two years to 67, and to raise the starting age for a popular program allowing people to retire with a limited pension from 60 to 63.

"Some people work harder than others, some have desks jobs, others have more physical jobs," said Frank J. Jensen, a 51-year-old construction worker in Copenhagen. "Retirement shouldn't be decided by one's age but whether you're worn out and fit for retirement. People with desk jobs can work till they are 67 or 70 maybe while I may be ready for it at 55 or 60."

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