Abstract | Many European countries, faced with demographic challenges owing to ageing populations and their socio-economic consequences, have had to implement pension reforms with common factors. This paper examines microeconomic evidence on provisions and adequacy of post-retirement income of ageing populations across Europe by using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This article presents the key changes introduced by European governments to pension systems and illustrates how recent reforms aim at increasing the sustainability of state pension systems by introducing and encouraging private schemes. The authors build on the findings of Pedersen (2004) and suggest that unless a complementary relationship between public and private pension exists, where private components are added to the basic level of state pensions and do not substitute them, the adequacy of retirement income will be affected. |
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