Pensions at a Glance 2025

Assets earmarked for retirement

Key results

Substantial assets earmarked for retirement have been provisioned around the world. Assets in pension plans managed by pension providers amounted to 95% of the sum of the GDPs of all OECD countries at end‑2024, which is more than two years before (87%). More than two‑thirds of OECD countries have also built up public pension reserves to support the operation of their public pay-as-you-go pension arrangements. For these countries, assets in public pension reserve funds (PPRFs) represented 11% of the sum of their GDPs at end‑2024 compared with 12% two years before.

Assets in pension plans managed by pension providers amounted to USD 63.1 trillion at end‑2024 in the OECD area (Table 9.2). The United States had the largest pension market within the OECD area with assets worth USD 44.8 trillion, representing 71% of the OECD total. Other OECD countries with large pension systems include Canada, with assets worth USD 3.4 trillion and a 5.4% share of the OECD pension market in 2024; the United Kingdom, USD 2.8 trillion and 4.4%; Australia, USD 2.4 trillion and 3.8%; the Netherlands, USD 1.8 trillion and 2.8%; Switzerland, USD 1.5 trillion and 2.4%; and Japan, USD 1.1 trillion and 1.8%.

Assets under management in pension plans amounted to 95% of the sum of the GDPs of all OECD countries at end‑2024, more than two years before (87%), but their prominence domestically still varies across countries. In eight OECD countries, assets exceeded the size of the GDP (and in a couple of cases even close to or more than twice the GDP): Denmark (206.4%), Iceland (191.3%), Switzerland (166.9%), Canada (157.9%), the United States (153.3%), the Netherlands (150.9%), Australia (135.1%) and Sweden (115.8%). These countries have pension plans from long ago, and with the exception of Canada and the United States, have mandatory or quasi-mandatory private pension systems. By contrast, the asset-to-GDP ratios were below 20% in 17 OECD countries, including some with relatively recent mandatory or auto‑enrolment programmes (such as Greece and Türkiye) or with relatively low participation of the working-age population (such as France, Italy). Greece recorded the lowest amount of assets relative to its GDP among OECD countries at end‑2024.

In non-OECD G20 economies, the size of assets under management in pension plans also varied widely, from 83.2% of GDP in South Africa to 2.7% in the People’s Republic of China (for enterprise annuities).

Many countries also decided to accumulate assets to support the operation of public pension arrangements, usually financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. More than two‑thirds of OECD countries hold reserves that are separated and ring-fenced in public pension reserve funds (PPRFs). By the end of 2024, the total amounts of assets in PPRFs were equivalent to USD 6.9 trillion in the OECD area (Table 9.2). The largest reserve was held by the US social security trust fund at USD 2.5 trillion, accounting for 36.8% of total OECD assets in PPRFs, although the assets consist of non-tradable debt instruments issued by the US Treasury to the social security trust. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund was second at USD 1.7 trillion – 24.1% of the OECD total. Of the remaining countries, Korea, Canada, France and Sweden had also accumulated large reserves, respectively accounting for 12%, 8.5%, 3.2% and 2.8% of the total.

In terms of total assets relative to the national economy, PPRF assets accounted for 11.4% of the sum of the GDPs of all OECD countries with reserves at end‑2024 (compared to 11.7% two years before). The highest ratio was observed for Korea’s reserves in its National Pension Fund, at 47.6% of GDP. Other countries where the ratio was of a significant size include Japan with 42.7%, Finland with 35.3%, Luxembourg with 34.1% and Sweden with 33.3%. Assets in PPRFs grew in all OECD countries in 2024 except the United Kingdom and the United States where reserves are being used and withdrawals exceed revenues.

Definition and measurement

Asset-backed pensions include all pension arrangements where savings for retirement are invested, earn a return and the assets accumulated finance retirement. They can be either public or private, and occupational or personal. It also includes public reserves built up to support public pensions.

The term “pension plans” refers to plans that individuals access via their employer or a financial institution, and in which they accumulate rights or assets. Assets belong to plan members and finance their own future retirement. These assets may accumulate in pension funds, through pension insurance contracts or in other savings vehicles offered and managed by banks or investment funds. Employers may set up provisions or reserves in their books to finance the retirement benefits of occupational pension plans.

PPRFs are reserves established with the primary goal to support unfunded / pay-as-you-go public pension arrangements. These public reserves do not belong to any specific group of individuals. They could act as a short-term liquidity buffer, a temporary buffer against shocks (such as a demographic change) or as a permanent smoothing vehicle between the inflows and outflows of public pension arrangements.

Further reading

OECD (2021), Pension Markets in Focus 2021, OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/daf/fin/private-pensions/Pension-Markets-in-Focus-2021.pdf.

Table 9.2. Assets earmarked for retirement in OECD countries and selected other major economies, at end‑2024 or latest year available

	Pension providers		Public pension reserve funds
	as a percentage of GDP	USD million	as a percentage of GDP	USD million
Australia	135.1	2 392 128	8.6	147 873
Austria	7.2	36 178	x	x
Belgium	30.3	193 073	x	x
Canada	157.9	3 375 687	27.4	585 359
Chile	59.3	186 582	3.0	9 378
Colombia	27.1	104 761	..	..
Costa Rica	42.2	40 637	7.9	7 592
Czechia	7.8	25 800	x	x
Denmark	206.4	845 814	x	x
Estonia	18.0	7 389	x	x
Finland	65.2	186 979	35.3	101 311
France	12.9	390 092	7.3	220 662
Germany	6.4	286 076	1.1	49 754
Greece	1.1	2 790	..	..
Hungary	4.8	9 874	x	x
Iceland	191.3	63 654	x	x
Ireland	26.2	153 163	x	x
Israel	69.4	380 141	15.3	83 743
Italy	11.7	267 307	5.4	126 031
Japan	29.2	1 136 656	42.7	1 662 479
Korea	31.8	552 154	47.6	825 102
Latvia	24.3	10 160	x	x
Lithuania	12.2	9 903	1.6	959
Luxembourg	1.6	1 421	34.1	30 523
Mexico	22.1	370 166	0.5	8 169
Netherlands	150.9	1 759 646	x	x
New Zealand	37.2	90 235	18.6	45 027
Norway	10.1	46 191	7.3	33 568
Poland	8.4	74 720	1.9	17 154
Portugal	12.9	38 175	12.6	37 274
Slovak Republic	16.2	22 009	x	x
Slovenia	7.1	4 932	..	..
Spain	10.8	177 907	0.6	9 742
Sweden	115.8	670 994	33.3	193 130
Switzerland	166.9	1 523 026	6.7	61 346
Türkiye	2.8	34 667	x	x
United Kingdom	78.4	2 805 843	2.7	101 526
United States	153.3	44 778 414	8.7	2 538 285
Total OECD	95.2	63 055 340	11.4	6 895 987
Argentina	..	..	13.3	74 629
Brazil	24.3	461 119	x	x
China (People’s Republic of)	2.7	498 685	2.0	366 326
India	13.5	520 155	..	..
Indonesia	6.5	88 860	1.8	24 611
Saudi Arabia	..	..	..	..
South Africa	83.2	315 430	x	x

Note: “..” means not available. “x” means not applicable. The line “OECD” shows the total assets in millions of USD and the total assets over the total of the GDPs of all reporting OECD countries. The total amount of investments of pension providers is taken as a proxy of the total amount of assets. Additional country specific details are provided in the StatLink.

Source: OECD Global Pension Statistics, websites and annual reports of reserve funds or other national authorities.

Statlink