How to Increase Coverage - The Main Challenge for Pensions

The ageing of the population in the economically more developed countries poses great challenges for the adequacy and sustainability of pension systems. Public, mainly pay-as-yougo social security pensions will not provide for an adequate retirement income in the future. One solution is to increase pension savings with coverage supplementary pensions. Occupational pensions have a wider coverage than personal pensions because of its often compulsion based on legislation or quasi-mandatory based on collective agreements. A new phenomenon is softer compulsion with auto-enrolment, which is increasingly used with good results in countries where making pensions mandatory is not a policy option. In general, more workplace pensions are needed but many countries in Europe have instead opted for policy measures that do not support supplementary retirement savings.