Pension systems around the world: how the UK measures up

Updated
Unilever pension protests
Unilever pension protests

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The Netherlands is the best place in the world to draw a pension, according to a recent survey of pension schemes around the world. The small country came out top for the third year in a row in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, followed by Australia, Switzerland and Sweden. Meanwhile Japan, India and China languished at the bottom of the table.

Pension schemes in most western countries are in crisis as governments are grappling with ageing populations and mounting levels of state debt. In the UK, people over the age of 65 now outnumber those of school age, and the average retirement lasts almost a quarter of a century. As a consequence, state pension ages are increasing around the world - in the UK, it will be raised to 66 by 2020, and to 67 by April 2028.

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