A study identified the countries with the best pension systems in the world. This ranking presents the ten best placements – but Germany is not among them.
Which country has the best? Pension system of the world? The experts at the Mercer CFA Institute asked themselves this question and analyzed the pension systems of 47 countries around the world from the perspectives of adequacy, sustainability and integrity for their annual “Global Pension Index”. The Scandinavian countries are at the top, while Germany only makes it to 19th place. This ranking presents the top 10 countries examined by Mercer.
Editorial team finanzen.net
11th place: The ranking
Which country has the best pension system in the world? The Mercer CFA Institute has examined and assessed 47 countries from the perspectives of adequacy, sustainability and integrity. This ranking shows the ten frontrunners with the best pension systems – but Germany is not among them. The status is October 17, 2023.
Source: Mercer, Image: Christian Zachariasen/Getty Images
10th place: United Kingdom
With an overall index score of 73, the UK ranks tenth in this ranking. In terms of adequacy and sustainability, the UK pension system is at a manageable level with scores of 77.3 and 62.7 respectively, but when it comes to integrity the British are slightly further ahead at 80.6.
Source: Mercer, Image: istock/david franklin
9th place: Sweden
Sweden ranks ninth with an overall index score of 74. The Scandinavian kingdom’s pension system is particularly notable for its high level of sustainability, which Mercer rated at 75.6. Appropriateness and integrity are 72.1 and 75, respectively.
Source: Mercer, Image: Rosel Eckstein / pixelio.de
8th place: Norway
In eighth place is the Kingdom of Norway, another representative of the Scandinavian countries, with an overall index score of 74.4. Mercer also rates the integrity of the Norwegian pension system very highly, with a rating of 87.8. In addition, there is also an above-average appropriateness of 79.4, although sustainability is at a comparatively low level with a value of 59.1.
Source: Mercer, Image: Rosel Eckstein / pixelio.de
7th place: Singapore
In seventh place is the tropical global financial center of Singapore with an overall index score of 76.3. Mercer rates the adequacy of the pension system at 79.8, sustainability at 71.6 and integrity at 77.
Source: Mercer, Image: Dieter Schütz / pixelio.de
6th place: Finland
Another Scandinavian country follows in sixth place, namely the Republic of Finland with an overall index value of 76.6. When looking at the Finnish pension system, what stands out for Mercer is its outstanding integrity, which was given an extremely high score of 90.9. The appropriateness is 77.4, the institute rates the sustainability as not quite as high at 65.6.
Source: Mercer, Image: istock/Johan Ramberg
5th place: Australia
Fifth place is taken by a nation that is both a country and a continent at the same time, namely Australia, which is sparsely populated with just 25 million inhabitants. The former British penal colony’s pension system is valued by Mercer, like Finland, for its high level of integrity, reflected in a rating of 86.1. Appropriateness and sustainability are 70.7 and 78.4 respectively, and the overall index value is 77.3.
Source: Mercer, Image: Rosel Eckstein / pixelio.de
4th place: Israel
Middle Eastern Israel takes fourth place, with an overall index value of 80.8. The multi-ethnic country’s pension system has high scores on all points, with Mercer rating adequacy at 77, sustainability at 82.7 and integrity at 84.4.
Source: Mercer, Image: Rosel Eckstein / pixelio.de
3rd place: Denmark
It clearly speaks for the pension policy of the Scandinavian countries that not only are all of them included in the ranking of the ten best pension systems in the world, but one of them has even made it into the top 3. Denmark, another Scandinavian kingdom, ranks third with an overall index score of 81.3. The evaluations of the individual examination criteria are at a high level and close to each other; appropriateness was rated at 82.5, sustainability was also rated at 82.5 and integrity was rated at 77.8.
Source: Mercer, Image: Katharina Wieland Müller / pixelio.de
2nd place: Iceland
The silver medal for the best pension system in the world goes to Iceland, which takes second place in this ranking with a high overall index score of 83.5. Both appropriateness and sustainability were rated extremely well by Mercer with 85.5 and 83.8 respectively, but Iceland also scored well in the area of integrity, where the value of 80 is also above average.
Source: Mercer, Image: Annamartha / pixelio.de
1st place: Netherlands
The award for the best pension system in the world goes to the Netherlands, which borders Germany, with an overall index value of 85. The ratings of adequacy and sustainability are similar to the level of Iceland at 85.6 and 82.4, respectively, although the high integrity of the pension system helps , which attributes Mercer a score of 87.7, placing the Dutch first in this ranking.
Source: Mercer, Image: Booksbaum / pixelio.de
