OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal
This review provides policy recommendations on how to improve the Portuguese pension system, building on the OECD’s best practices in pension design. It details the Portuguese pension system and identifies its strengths and weaknesses based on cross-country comparisons. The Portuguese pension system consists of an old-age safety net, a pay-as-you-go defined benefit scheme and voluntary private savings. The safety net includes an old-age social pension and a complement (the so-called Complemento Solidário para Idosos or CSI), both of which pursue similar objectives but have different eligibility criteria. The defined benefit scheme has two main components: the general social security scheme (regime geral da Segurança Social) and the civil-servant pension scheme (Caixa Geral de Aposentações or CGA). The latter has been closed to new entrants since 2006 with new civil servants contributing to the general scheme. Funded voluntary pensions make up a very small share of total pension entitlements. The OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal is the fourth in the series, after Ireland (2014), Mexico (2016) and Latvia (2018), with a fifth review on Peru under preparation.
Executive summary
This review provides a detailed analysis of the different components of the Portuguese pension system, which consists of an old-age safety net, a pay-as-you-go earnings-related public scheme and voluntary private pensions. It assesses the system according to the OECD best practices and guidelines, and draws on international experiences to make recommendations for improvement. It also addresses the effects of recent labour market trends on future retirement benefits and on the pension coverage of workers in non‑standard forms of employment.
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