World population aging has driven a growing involvement of the individually funded systems in the construction of adequate pensions for workers. It is therefore extremely important to improve the following seven design features:

1. Improve coverage,
2. Implement non-contributory pension programs,
3. Provide them with a technical mechanism that periodically adjusts their parameters,
4. Improve the returns and safety of pension fund investments,
5. Aggressively promote voluntary pension savings (VPS),
6. Improve the decumulation stage of the systems and,
7. Communication and Financial Education on pensions.

The solution to the problem of contributory pensions is not to expand or return to the PAYGO systems. Such systems are unviable in the long term because, due to population aging, there will be fewer active workers to finance the pensions of senior citizens.

According to United Nations data, the ratio of the population aged 15 to 64, in relation to the population aged 65 or more, will decrease from 7.5 in 2020 to 3.8 in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2050, a drop of 49% in just 30 years, which will be further aggravated by Latin American labor informality, thus considerably underfunding the PAYGO systems and making it impossible for them to provide adequate pensions.

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