Analytics, Baltic, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Funds, Pensioners, Rating

The authors of the report say that, just as in the previous similar report in 2014, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania top the list for countries of central and eastern Europe. Estonia managed to enter the top 10 in the overall ranking, right below Latvia, while Lithuania moved up one group and ranks 16th. The score of all three countries has been positively impacted by the fact that the three Baltic states have continued to implement reforms in order to increase the effective retirement age and reduce the burden of the pension system on public finances, they say.

The survey describes the pension systems of Australia, Chile, Estonia and Mexico as highly sustainable, but the income provided by the old-age provisioning scheme is far from sufficient.

At the bottom of the list for CEE countries are Croatia and Slovenia, whose sustainability scores did not improve. Slovenia's sustainability score declined slightly compared to 2014 as the government debt-to GDP ratio has increased and the 2050 old-age dependency (OAD) ratio forecast has been revised upwards. The increase in the retirement age and a more optimistic pension expenditures forecast for 2050 have only partially offset the negative impact of these two factors on the total score and the pension system of Slovenia is the only one in the CEE group rated as having "a high need for reforms."

Just as in 2014, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and New Zealand top the ranking with pension systems that appear to be the most sustainable over the long term. The 2016 PSI study has been expanded to 54 countries and now includes Argentina, Colombia, Peru and the Philippines.