IPE: Pension asset-to-GDP ratios for OECD countries up 5 per cent over decade

24 September 2012

Occupational pension funds account for close to 73 per cent of GDP in OECD countries, up 5 percentage points in a decade, according to a report.

Denmark ranked first in overall returns, counted in local currency, with its pension funds returning more than 12 per cent. Of the surveyed countries, the Netherlands saw the highest asset-to-GDP ratio of 138 per cent, close to twice the weighted average of 72.4 per cent.

The report added: "Only 13 out of 33 countries, for which information was available, had assets-to-GDP ratios above 20 per cent, which is considered the minimum for meeting the OECD's definition of a 'mature' pension fund market". The OECD also found that of the 33 countries surveyed, not a single one invested more than 50 per cent in public equity.

"This was the case, for instance, in Slovakia, where pension fund exposure to debt from the European periphery fell by 3 percentage points, to 4.5 per cent", the report said.

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