Pension and retirement policies have changed dramatically in recent years, as governments have tried to balance the goals of adequate retirement incomes and the long-term financial sustainability of pension systems in the face of population ageing. Pensions at a Glance 2009 provides a consistent framework for comparing pension policies between countries along with reliable data.
This third edition updates information on key features of pension provision in OECD countries and provides projections of retirement income for today's workers. It offers an expanded range of indicators, including measures of assets, investment performance, coverage of private pensions, public pension spending, and the demographic context and outlook.
Four special chapters provide an in-depth look at important issues in pension policy today. The first examines the implications of the present financial and economic crisis on pension systems. Which countries and which individuals are most affected? What can governments do to help and which policies should they avoid? The second looks at incomes and poverty of older people, looking at trends over the past two decades. In many countries, the position of pensioners has improved relative to the population as a whole, but there remain pockets of old-age poverty. The third updates the analysis of pension reforms in the second edition of Pensions at a Glance. How have pension systems changed in the period 2004-08? The final special chapter considers coverage of voluntary private pensions, extending the analysis to look at how this varies with age and earnings. It also evaluates five different policies to expand coverage.
This book includes StatLinks, URLs under each graph and table linking to Excel® files containing the underlying data.
Editorial - Pension Policy: Weathering the Storm Executive Summary The Framework of Pensions at a Glance Structure of the report -Methodology -Overview of retirement-income provision -Architecture of national pension systems -References PART I. POLICY ISSUES 1. Pension Systems during the Financial and Economic Crisis -1. Which groups are hardest hit by the crisis in pensions?
-2. In which countries are pensions most affected?
-3. Policy responses: what to do and what not to do -4. Conclusions: security through diversity 2. Incomes and Poverty of Older People -1. Incomes of older people -2. Old-age income poverty -3. The redistributive role of the state: taxes and benefits -4. Looking forward -5. Conclusions 3. Recent Pension Reforms -1. Coverage of pension systems -2. Adequacy of retirement benefits -3. Financial sustainability -4. Economic efficiency -5. Administrative efficiency -6. Security of benefits -7. Pension reform: process and politics 4. The Pension Gap and Voluntary Retirement Savings -1. The pension gap -2. Coverage of voluntary private pensions by age and earnings -3. Contributions to private pensions -4. Policies to encourage private pension savings PART II. INDICATORS OF PENSION POLICIES Pension Entitlements -Gross pension replacement rates -Gross pension replacement rates: Public and private schemes -Net pension replacement rates -Gross pension wealth -Net pension wealth -Progressivity of pension benefit formulae -Pension-earnings link -Weighted averages: Pension levels and pension wealth -Retirement-income package Retirement-income Systems -Contributions -Pension expenditure -Coverage of private pensions -Assets in private pension funds and public reserves Demographic and Economic Context -Life expectancy -Fertility -Old-age dependency ratio -Average earnings PART III. COUNTRY PROFILES -Introduction --Key features of pension-system design --Guide to the country profiles -Australia -Austria -Belgium -Canada -Czech Republic -Denmark -Finland -France -Germany -Greece -Hungary -Iceland -Ireland -Italy -Japan -Korea -Luxembourg -Mexico -Netherlands -New Zealand -Norway -Poland -Portugal -Slovak Republic -Spain -Sweden -Switzerland -Turkey -United Kingdom -United States