Pensions at a Glance in Latin America and the Caribbean provides for the first time an ample range of indicators for comparing pension system design of 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The indicators are comparable with those of OECD countries and selected G20 members, published by the OECD.

The biggest pension policy challenge faced by most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) today is low coverage of formal pension systems, both in terms of the proportion of workers participating in pension schemes and the proportion of the elderly receiving some kind of pension income. Efforts to close the coverage gap, for example, through non-contributory pensions, are therefore at the heart of the pension policy debate in the region. However, these policies might pose significant fiscal challenges in the next decades as the population ages.  presents three main indicators describing the demographic conditions relevant for pension policy, namely fertility rates, life expectancy and old-age support ratios. This is followed by a systematic comparison, in , of system designs across countries using the standard OECD Pensions at a Glance typology and presenting several key indicators of adequacy, including gender-specific gross and net replacement rates and pension wealth at different income levels. Finally,  provides the profiles of each pension system in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of their architecture, rules and parameters.

The biennial OECD Pensions at a Glance series was launched in 2005 for OECD countries and subsequently expanded in 2011 to include the remaining G20 countries. Following the launch of Pensions at a Glance Asia-Pacific in 2009, this new regional publication covers pensions in Latin America and the Caribbean; it is a joint product by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank.

The general issue of coverage and more specifically contribution density is covered in . Coverage, defined both as the proportion of workers participating in pension schemes and the proportion of the elderly receiving some kind of pension income, continues to be the most important pension challenge in the region. In the two decades that followed the pension reforms in Latin America, the share of workers contributing to a pension system of any kind barely changed in most countries, leading to a growing emphasis on policies that would address the stubborn coverage gap. While two countries may have similar, even identical system designs, a significant difference in the patterns of contribution or life expectancy at retirement age would in practice, yield different actual outcomes. Recognising the particular importance of this limitation for Latin America where there is evidence of low contribution density, especially at the lower end of the income scales,  of the report extends the usual micro-level analysis and reports on the sensitivity of the results.