Old-age pension systems can be classified according to three aspects: funded versus unfunded systems (pay-as-you-go), actuarial versus non-actuarial systems, and defined benefit (DB) versus defined contribution (DC) systems.Several European countries have (or had) public old-age pension schemes...

Demographic developments are unfavourable for the financing of pension schemes in most OECD countries, implying continued growth in pension expenditure in virtually all OECD countries. This chapter examines the vulnerability of pension systems, with an emphasis on financial sustainability and...

Countries in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESE) face the challenge of becoming "demographically old before being economically rich". Ensuring the long-term stability and adequacy of pension systems was one of the most important tasks that these countries faced following economic...

Concern about the long-term sustainability of European public pension systems has been a permanent feature for decades due to the unstoppable ageing of the population, but demographic change is not the only factor of concern. A deep economic and financial crisis has been added to this structural...

Many countries all over the world have been facing the problem of deteriorating demographics, forcing reforms of the pension system model as well as its main parameters. An important perspective of the assessment of the financial sustainability of a pension system is the division of current GDP...

The aim of this chapter is to review the main instruments and indicators used to measure the sustainability of PAYG pension systems. It will distinguish between defined contribution and defined benefit systems, due to the various implications that each of them has. It will also be necessary to...

Pensions are the main source of income in old age. Their main value is provided, in most countries, by public pension systems. Therefore, one of the main challenges for governments and policymakers is to enable people to smooth consumption over the life cycle in an appropriate scale. This...

Retirement systems across the world are undergoing major reforms to adapt to continuously changing economic and demographic factors. Among these major changes are the so-called notional defined contribution pension schemes (NDCs), first developed about 20 years ago in countries such as Italy,...