Swiss pension system remains above average

The Swiss pension system continues to be rated as permanently reliable and future-proof. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss pension system is once again in the top third in a global comparison. According to the new "Global Pension Index 2024" published on Tuesday, the Netherlands has the best pension system, followed by Iceland and Denmark.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The Swiss pension system fell slightly from 11th place last year to 12th place in the survey, consulting firm Mercer announced on Tuesday. Bringing up the rear is India.

A total of 48 systems worldwide were analysed by Mercer and the CFA Institute. The index assesses the pension systems on the basis of three sub-indices for adequacy (“How much do you receive?”), sustainability (“Can the system continue to function in the future?”) and integrity (“Can the system be trusted?”).

+ Six lessons from Swiss voters’ rejection of occupational pension reform

The Swiss pension system is rated as above average overall, even with a slightly lower score compared to the previous year. It continues to be rated as permanently reliable and future-proof.

The adequacy and integrity of the Swiss pension system was rated slightly lower this time. For example, the rather low salary replacement ratios, i.e. the ratio of pension to salary, in an international comparison, had a negative impact.

+ Pensions – Swiss Abroad

In addition, Swiss pension funds still place too little emphasis on broad diversification of asset investments and the associated use of alternative investments with an attractive long-term risk/return ratio, according to the consultancy firm. In general, pension systems worldwide are facing major challenges due to demographic trends and rising costs.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].