


07/2010
Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010
Populations are ageing in most developed countries, but increasingly also in emerging economies. Rising expenditures for pensions as well as health care and long-term care will claim an increasing share of governments’ or families’ incomes. Ensuring both adequate old-age incomes and the long-term financial sustainability of pension and health-care systems remains a huge challenge.
In a number of emerging economies, most notably in China, pension systems are still underdeveloped and cover only a small part of the population. In the developed world, many pension systems at current rules are not financially sustainable. In response to large implicit pension liabilities, various approaches to pension reform have been put forward, such as increasing the role of private and prefunded pension schemes, reducing public pension benefits, increasing pension age and reducing incentives to retire early. The recent financial and economic crisis has highlighted further risks inherent in both public and private pension systems. While rising unemployment and sharply increasing government debt is putting additional stress on public finances and pay-as-you-go pension schemes, the substantial fall in asset prices has underlined the risks associated with pension funds invested in the financial markets. In the current environment there is the danger that immediate pressures on policy to act result in poorly designed short-term responses with negative long-term consequences for the capacity of pension systems to provide adequate levels of retirement income on a sustainable basis.