This paper sheds new light on the mortality effect of delaying retirement by investigating the Spanish 1967 pension reform. This reform exogenously changed the early retirement age, depending on the date individuals started contributing to the Social Security system. Those contributing before 1 January 1967 maintained the right to voluntarily retire early (at age 60), while individuals who started contributing after that date could not voluntarily claim a pension until the age of 65. Using the Spanish administrative Social Security data, we find that the reform delayed the individuals’ labour market exit by around half a year and increased the probability that individuals use disability pensions, partial pensions, and no pensions. We show evidence that delaying exiting employment increases the hazard of dying between the ages of 60 and 69. Heterogeneous analysis indicates that the negative impact is driven by those employed in low-skilled, physically and psycho-socially demanding jobs. Moreover, we show that allowing for flexible retirement schemes, such as partial retirement, mitigates the negative effect of delaying retirement on mortality.