Although average incomes in China have risen dramatically since the 1980s, concerns are increasing that the rural elderly have not benefited from growth to the same extent as younger people and the urban elderly. Concerns about welfare of the rural elderly combine spatial and demographic issues.

Since their introduction, the Riester pension scheme and the individual Riester products have become less beneficial to savers. Contracts concluded today will often lead to lower returns compared to contracts concluded in 2001. From a social perspective, meaning pension benefits in relation to individual saving contributions plus state subsidy, overall returns on all insurance-based products are very low.

A general increase has taken place in the role and weight of supplementary pensions in the provision of protection against old-age and other risks. In Europe a development in this direction is observed in countries with different pension systems and institutional backgrounds. In both ‘veterans’ and ‘newcomers’ (the former with a long tradition of supplementary schemes interacting with public basic pensions; the latter with more recent innovations consistent with the progressive curtailment of public pensions and the parallel increased role of second- and third-pillar funds) supplementary pension funds do in fact play an important role in protecting against old age. The changing balance between first, second and third pillars (with a shift from public forms of old-age protection to occupational and individual schemes) is paralleled by the European Union (EU) action in shaping pensions policy, with a particular focus on supplementary funds.

Voltaire, the French writer and philosopher, advised a friend to “go on living solely to enrage
those who are paying your annuities”, before suggesting rhubarb and sobriety as the means to such an end. The rapid ageing of the population around the world is unlikely to be a result of heeding this advice. But it provides a major challenge to the affordability of pensions and the financial sustainability of retirement-income systems. This problem has been reinforced by a long period during which increases in life expectancy were continually under-estimated by experts.

It is estimated that transitioning to a low-carbon, and climate resilient economy, and more broadly „greening growth? over the next 20 years to 2030 will require significant investment and consequently private sources of capital on a much larger scale than previously. With their USD 28 trillion in assets, pension funds - along with other institutional investors - potentially have an important role to play in financing such green growth initiatives.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly one in three men between ages 55 and 61 did not work in January 2011 (US). This statistic includes men who were unemployed and looking for work, as well as those who were no longer in the labor force or never worked. Although the share of nonworking older men increased dramatically because of job losses created by the Great Recession, it has been steadily on the rise since 1990 when only around one in four older men was not working.

The ageing of society demands action as the window of opportunity to adequately prepare for this shift is closing fast. While immediate concerns about rising healthcare costs and pension structures require attention, fundamental longterm questions should not be neglected. Although the current global economic turmoil has put further pressure on already stretched resources, heightening the urgency of addressing demographic shifts, it is also presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformational change. Times of uncertainty create space for radical and creative thinking, and now may be an ideal time to attempt reform while people are more open than ever to new ideas.

Populations around the world are ageing rapidly, not only in the advanced economies but also in the emerging and developing economies. The UN predicts that by 2050, one-third of the populations in developed countries and one-fifth of those in developing countries will be aged 60
or older.

Individuals save for decades to ensure that they will have financial security in retirement. That security can be threatened or eliminated virtually overnight if an individual who is in or near retirement becomes the victim of a financial fraud, such as a Ponzi scheme or sham investment in high-yield securities.

The lack of a secure income in older age is one of the biggest problems facing people in developing countries. Few people in poverty can afford to save for older age and family support for older people is under pressure. Around the world, the majority of older people lack a secure income, and fewer than one in five people over 60 receive a pension. The best way to tackle this problem is for governments to provide non-contributory (‘social’) pensions, as more than 80 governments around the world have done including Nepal, Bolivia, South Africa and Brazil.

In light of the consequence of ageing populations in virtually all countries and increasing government debt in many countries, retirement income systems are coming under greater scrutiny than ever before. Notwithstanding the great diversity of policies towards pensions around the world, it is important that comparisons are made and lessons are learned from the range of approaches. This report presents such research and compares retirement income systems in 16 countries, representing more than half the world’s population.