10 October, 2024
The OECD’s Pension Markets in Focus report provides detailed and comparable statistics on retirement savings around the world. This edition of the annual report provides an overview of pension savings in around 90 jurisdictions, showing a wide range of relevant indicators up to the year 2021, harmonized and standardized.
According to the report, pension assets in OECD countries amounted to about USD 58.9 trillion (105% of total OECD GDP at the end of 2021; that percentage was 59% at the end of 2001). Assets were accumulated mainly in pension funds, representing USD 37.7 trillion (64% of pension assets in the OECD). Some jurisdictions also use other vehicles to save for retirement. Examples include provisions on employers’ books (eg Germany, Sweden), pension insurance contracts sold by insurance companies (eg Denmark and France) or products offered and managed by banks and investment companies (eg Individual Retirement Accounts [IRAs] in the United States).
The trend in the increase in pension assets in the OECD in 2021 is explained because, despite the increase in inflation, pension assets earned that year, on average, a real return on investments (net of commissions from management) of 3%. In addition, the average annual real return of the last 20 years was positive in most of the reporting countries (in 16 of 18).
Finally, the report also highlights that assets in personal and defined contribution plans are increasing faster than in defined benefit plans in most reporting countries.
To review the full report, please download it here.
10 October, 2024
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