A major review of international state pension schemes claims some risk creating unfairness between generations.
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Pension experts ranked pensions in 30 countries to come up with the results.
Denmark came out on top for the sixth year in a row, while Japan, Austria, Italy, and France were held as examples of developed economies whose pension systems do not seem sustainable for supporting current and future generations in their old age
The rankings look at sustainability, adequacy and integrity of state pensions.
Jacques Goulet, president of health and wealth at Mercer, stresses the need for countries to address sustainability when considering pension reform.
Not all doom and gloom
“Increasing life expectancies and low investment returns are having significant long-term impacts on the ability of many systems around the world to deliver adequate retirement benefits both now and into the future,” he said.
“These pressures have alerted policy makers to the growing importance of intergenerational equity issues.”
Author of the report and senior partner at Mercer, Dr David Knox, says it’s not all doom and gloom and every country can act to move towards a better pension system.
“The primary objective is to benchmark each country’s retirement income system, so we can learn to understand what best practice may look like, both now and into the future,” he said.
“From our research, it is clear which countries are leading the way in providing sustainable pension systems with adequate benefits and what others can learn from them to improve.
How international state pensions rate
| Country | Score | Adequacy | Sustainability | Integrity |
| Argentina | 38.8 | 42.4 | 33.1 | 41.2 |
| Australia | 77.1 | 75.3 | 73.0 | 85.7 |
| Austria | 53.1 | 67.6 | 19.9 | 76.4 |
| Brazil | 54.8 | 67.8 | 29.2 | 70.0 |
| Canada | 66.8 | 69.9 | 55.4 | 77.7 |
| Chile | 67.3 | 58.0 | 69.1 | 79.7 |
| China | 46.5 | 54.2 | 38.2 | 46.0 |
| Colombia | 61.7 | 66.4 | 49.9 | 70.7 |
| Denmark | 78.9 | 76.5 | 79.8 | 81.3 |
| Finland | 72.3 | 70.2 | 61.3 | 91.0 |
| France | 59.6 | 80.4 | 38.6 | 55.8 |
| Germany | 63.5 | 76.5 | 40.9 | 74.0 |
| India | 44.9 | 39.5 | 43.8 | 55.1 |
| Indonesia | 49.9 | 40.1 | 49.3 | 66.4 |
| Ireland | 65.8 | 77.9 | 43.9 | 77.2 |
| Italy | 50.8 | 66.2 | 16.4 | 74.3 |
| Japan | 43.5 | 48.0 | 26.0 | 60.7 |
| South Korea | 47.1 | 46.9 | 46.8 | 47.9 |
| Malaysia | 57.7 | 42.3 | 61.2 | 77.6 |
| Mexico | 45.1 | 38.5 | 55.9 | 40.5 |
| Netherlands | 78.8 | 78.0 | 73.5 | 87.5 |
| New Zealand | 67.4 | 66.2 | 61.5 | 77.8 |
| Norway | 74.7 | 77.0 | 61.0 | 90.3 |
| Poland | 55.1 | 58.1 | 43.1 | 67.1 |
| Singapore | 69.4 | 65.2 | 66.2 | 80.7 |
| South Africa | 48.9 | 34.0 | 45.7 | 77.1 |
| Sweden | 72.0 | 67.7 | 71.0 | 80.3 |
| Switzerland | 67.6 | 60.2 | 64.7 | 83.3 |
| UK | 61.4 | 58.2 | 49.4 | 83.5 |
| USA | 57.8 | 57.0 | 57.1 | 60.1 |
| Total | 59.94 | 60.9 | 50.8 | 71.2 |
Source: Melbourne Mercer
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