The expert verdict on the British state pension is ‘good effort, but could do better’ in a detailed analysis of state pensions in 30 countries.
Britain is stuck halfway in the table, taking 15th place – but still beating France, the USA, Italy and Japan.
Top of the state pension league is Denmark, for the sixth year in a row.
The Netherlands and Australia take second and third places, while Argentina props up the table with Japan and India.
Japan, Austria, Italy, and France were held as examples of developed economies whose pension systems don’t represent a sustainable model that will support current and future generations in their old age, in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The index covers 30 countries and 60% of the world’s population.
Pressures on pensions
Jacques Goulet, president of health and wealth at Mercer, explained the need for countries to address sustainability when considering pension reform.
“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.”
“This is due to a combination of factors including a lack of assets set aside for the future, low labour force participation at older ages, and significant demographic changes towards an ageing population,” said Goulet. “If left unchanged, these systems will create societal pressures where pension benefits are not distributed equally between generations.”
How global state pensions rank
| Rank | Country | Index score |
| 1 | Denmark | 78.9 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 78.8 |
| 3 | Australia | 77.1 |
| 4 | Norway | 74.7 |
| 5 | Finland | 72.3 |
| 6 | Sweden | 72.0 |
| 7 | Singapore | 69.4 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 67.6 |
| 9 | New Zealand | 67.4 |
| 10 | Chile | 67.3 |
| 11 | Canada | 66.8 |
| 12 | Ireland | 65.8 |
| 13 | Germany | 63.5 |
| 14 | Colombia | 61.7 |
| 15 | UK | 61.4 |
| 16 | France | 59.6 |
| 17 | USA | 57.8 |
| 18 | Malaysia | 57.7 |
| 19 | Poland | 55.1 |
| 20 | Brazil | 54.8 |
| 21 | Austria | 53.1 |
| 22 | Italy | 50.8 |
| 23 | Indonesia | 49.9 |
| 24 | South Africa | 48.9 |
| 25 | Korea | 47.1 |
| 26 | China | 46.5 |
| 27 | Mexico | 45.1 |
| 28 | India | 44.9 |
| 29 | Japan | 43.5 |
| 30 | Argentina | 38.8 |
Source: Melbourne Mercer
