In a world in which rising life expectancies, increased government debt and uncertain economic conditions have increased public awareness of the importance of state provisions for a country’s elderly, Denmark stands out as the only country surveyed that is considered to have "a first class and robust retirement income system that delivers good benefits, is sustainable and has a high level of integrity", the researchers found.
The fifth annual Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index finds that Australia isn’t a bad place to be retired either, actually, coming in a close third, just behind the Netherlands.
The UK ranks just ninth, and the US is eleventh (see table, below).
The rankings are determined by considering more than 40 indicators, which the researchers divide into three categories: Adequacy, sustainability and integrity.
Country |
Rank |
Overall index grade |
Letter grade |
Denmark |
1 |
80.2 |
A |
Netherlands |
2 |
78.3 |
B+ |
Australia |
3 |
77.8 |
B+ |
Switzerland |
4 |
73.9 |
B |
Sweden |
5 |
72.6 |
B |
Canada |
6 |
67.9 |
B |
Singapore |
7 |
66.5 |
B |
Chile |
8 |
66.4 |
B |
UK |
9 |
65.4 |
B |
Germany |
10 |
58.5 |
C |
US |
11 |
58.2 |
C |
Indonesia |
20 |
42.0 |
D |