Progressivity of pension benefit formulae

The progressivity index is designed to summarise the relationship between pension in retirement and earnings when working in a single number. The results show variation from 100 in pure basic schemes (such as Ireland and New Zealand), through zero in Hungary to a negative result in Sweden (-13), indicating that the overall retirement-income system in Sweden is regressive. The average index across OECD countries is 39. Regional differences are striking, with the index averaging 82 in the Anglophone countries: public pensions are strongly progressive. In Southern European countries, by contrast, it averages 23, indicating a very strong link between earnings and pension benefits.