Pension authorities and other bodies provided the primary source material for this report, as part of the OECD/IOPS/ World Bank Global Pension Statistics (GPS) exercise. Data come from official administrative sources and are revised on an ongoing basis so as to better reflect the most recent figures for every past year. Some divergences may exist between national reporting standards and the compilation method of certain data for the GPS exercise. For this reason, data providers are regularly requested to provide methodological information relevant for developing a thorough understanding of their submission under the GPS framework. The general methodological notes below provide some explanations in this respect.
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Annex B. Methodological notes
Copy link to Annex B. Methodological notesGeneral notes
Copy link to General notesConventional signs: “..” means not available. “|” means methodological break in series.
This report is mainly based on the answers of pension authorities and other bodies to an annual data request. Some statistics for some jurisdictions come from publicly available reports, databases or websites of other national or international organisations: Japan (Bank of Japan) and Switzerland (Federal Social Insurance Office’s publication Statistique des assurances sociales suisses for personal plans) among OECD countries; and Argentina (International Association of Pension Fund Supervisors (AIOS)), Bolivia (AIOS), China (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS)), Croatia (website of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) before 2014), the Dominican Republic (AIOS before 2014), El Salvador (AIOS), India (annual reports of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation for Employees’ Provident Fund, Employees’ Pension Scheme and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme), Panama (AIOS) and Uruguay (AIOS before 2016) among non-OECD jurisdictions.
Data on stock variables refer to the end of the year while data on flow variables are provided over the whole year in the report. The reference period is the calendar year, except for: Australia where the reference period is the financial year ending in June; India where the reference period ends in March of the following year for Employees’ Provident Fund, Employees’ Pension Scheme and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme; and New Zealand (until 2014). Data for New Zealand up to 2013 are based on a 31 March balance date for most of the schemes.
Slovenia adopted the euro in 2007, the Slovak Republic in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014, Lithuania in 2015 and Croatia in 2023. The whole time series (in millions of national currency) are expressed in millions of euros for these countries (even before their adoption of the euro).
This report uses four main additional reference series: exchange rates to convert values in US dollars, GDP, the variation of the consumer price index (CPI) and population:
This report uses end-of-period exchange rates for all variables valued at the end of the year, and period-average rates for variables representing a flow over the year. These rates mainly come from the OECD Annual Purchasing Power Parities and Exchange Rates and the IMF Exchange rates databases.
GDP values come from the OECD Annual and Quarterly National Accounts databases for OECD countries; and from the IMF World Economic Outlook released in April 2025 for all the other jurisdictions except Gibraltar (Abstract of Statistics 2015 of the Statistics Office of Gibraltar), Isle of Man (the National Income webpage of the Official Isle of Man Government website) and Liechtenstein (UN National Accounts Main Aggregates Database).
Consumer price indices are from the OECD Key short-term economic indicators database or from the IMF Consumer Price Index database except for Gibraltar (Abstract of Statistics 2015 of the Statistics Office of Gibraltar), Macau (China) in 2024 (IMF World Economic Outlook of April 2025), Papua New Guinea (World Bank Consumer Price Index database) and Zimbabwe (IMF World Economic Outlook of April 2025).
Data on population are from the OECD Working-age Population database and World Bank World Development Indicators.
Specific notes
Copy link to Specific notesThe chart shows the amount of assets at the end of each year, from end-2001 to end-2024, based on annual data. The total amount of assets at the end of a given year is calculated based on all the OECD countries and funds for which a value is available. The number of countries and funds that the totals include may therefore vary over the years. Totals are expressed in current prices.
The assets in Argentina's Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS) grew by 91.9% in 2024 (not shown for readability purposes).
Data refer to the end of 2023 for pension providers in Ghana, Mauritius, Panama and South Africa; and for public pension reserve funds in Germany, Italy, the People’s Republic of China (hereafter ‘China’), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Data refer to the end of 2024 in all the other cases. Reserve funds in Italy are private entities with legal personality having the primary task of running mandatory, first-pillar pension schemes, each for a certain category of self-employed workers. Despite their private status, these funds are included among public pension reserve funds in this Figure as they share some similarities with them.
The charts show the nominal growth rates of assets (expressed in USD) (Panel A) and the share of total assets (Panel B) in occupational defined benefit (DB), occupational defined contribution (DC) and personal plans respectively, aggregated over 44 OECD and other jurisdictions: among OECD countries, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, the United States; among other jurisdictions, Albania, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Guyana, Hong Kong (China), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Nigeria, Peru, Romania and Uruguay.
Data for the Netherlands cover only occupational pension funds.
The funding ratio is calculated as the ratio of total investment and net technical provisions for DB plans managed by pension funds using values reported by national authorities in the OECD questionnaire. All liabilities of DB plans (instead of just technical provisions) are considered for Ireland and the United States. Data for Finland refer to DB plans in pension funds only. Data for Luxembourg refer to DB traditional plans under the supervision of the financial regulatory authority. Data for the Netherlands and Switzerland include all types of pension funds. Data for the United Kingdom come from the Purple Book published by the Pension Protection Fund and show the ratio of assets and liabilities valued on an s179 basis (instead of net technical provisions). Liabilities for Hong Kong (China) refer to the amount of aggregated past service liability in DB ORSO schemes. DB ORSO schemes must conduct an actuarial review once every three years and submit the actuarial certificates to the Registrar of ORSO schemes. If a scheme is found to be insolvent, actuarial reviews must be conducted annually. Following the actuarial review, the Registrar of ORSO schemes will require that the relevant scheme’s assets be sufficient to meet its aggregate vested liability within three years from the date of the review. Data for Indonesia cover DB employer pension funds only.
Data for Costa Rica refer to the mandatory supplementary pension scheme (ROP) only. Data for Latvia refer to the managers of state pension plans only. Data for Lithuania refer to the second pension pillar only. Data for Mexico refer to AFORES only. Data for Norway refer to pension funds only. Data for Poland refer to open pension funds only. Data for Spain refer to pension fund management companies only. Data for Switzerland refer to pension funds only. Data for Türkiye refer to personal plans only.
Data for Costa Rica refer to the managers of the mandatory supplementary pension scheme (ROP) only. Data for Latvia refer to the managers of state pension plans only. Data for Lithuania refer to the second pension pillar only. Data for Mexico refer to AFORES only. Data for Norway refer to pension funds only. Data for Poland refer to open pension funds only. Data for Spain refer to pension fund management companies only. Data for Switzerland refer to pension funds only. Data for Türkiye refer to personal plans only.
The charts are based on the annual investment rates of return reported in the statistical annex of the report. Please refer to the notes of this statistical annex for more country or fund-specific notes. Data on public pension reserve funds (PPRF) cover: the Future Fund for Australia, the State Fund for Guaranteeing the Stability of the State Pension System (SFGSSPS) for Bulgaria, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Reserve Fund and the Reserve of the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) for Canada, the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, the Social Security Fund for Costa Rica, Keva's pension liability fund and the State Pension Fund (VER) for Finland, the Fonds de Réserves pour les Retraites (FRR) for France, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) for Japan, the National Pension Fund for Korea, the Fonds de Compensation for Luxembourg, the Labour Fund for Mexico, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund for New Zealand, the Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN) for Norway, the Demographic Reserve Fund for Poland, the Social Security Financial Stabilisation Fund (FEFSS) for Portugal, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, the AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States. The annual returns are calculated over the period December 2023-December 2024 except for pension providers in Australia (June 2023-June 2024); and Canada's CPP (March 2024-March 2025), Japan's GPIF (March 2024-March 2025), New Zealand Superannuation Fund (June 2023-June 2024).
Panel B: The annual returns for Zimbabwe are not shown for readability purposes: -78.9% in 2024, -66.2% on average over the last 5 years, -48.7% over the last 10 years and -34.7% over the last 15 years. Panel C: Data on public pension reserve funds cover: the Future Fund for Australia, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Reserve Fund and the Reserve of the Quebec Pension Plan for Canada, the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, Keva's pension liability fund and the State Pension Fund (VER) for Finland, Fonds de Réserves pour les Retraites (FRR) for France, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) for Japan, the National Pension Fund for Japan, the Fonds de Compensation (FDC) for Luxembourg, New Zealand Superannuation Fund for New Zealand, the Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN) for Norway, the Demographic Reserve Fund for Poland, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, the AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States.
The "Other" category includes loans, land and buildings, unallocated insurance contracts, hedge funds, private equity funds, structured products, other mutual funds (i.e. not invested in equities, bills and bonds or cash and deposits) and other investments. Negative values (due to derivatives) have been excluded from the calculations of the allocation of pension assets. The Global Pension Statistics exercise gathers information on investments of pension plan assets in collective investment schemes (CIS) and the look-through of these investments in equities, bills and bonds, cash and deposits, and other. Data on asset allocation in this Figure include both direct investments in equities, bills and bonds, and cash and deposits, and indirect investments through CIS when the look-through of CIS investments is available. In such case, the Figure shows the overall exposure of pension plan assets in the selected asset classes. When the look-through is not available, the Figure only shows the direct investments of pension plan assets in equities, bills and bonds, cash and deposits and other assets, and investments in collective investment schemes are shown in a separate category. Data on public pension reserve funds cover: the Future Fund for Australia, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Reserve Fund for Canada, the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, the Social Security Fund for Costa Rica, Keva VER and other funds combined for Finland, AGIRC-ARRCO and Fonds de Réserves pour les Retraites (FRR) for France, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) for Japan, the National Pension Fund for Korea, the Fonds de Compensation (FDC) for Luxembourg, the Labour Fund for Mexico, New Zealand Superannuation Fund for New Zealand, the Demographic Reserve Fund for Poland, the Social Security Financial Stabilisation Fund (FEFSS) for Portugal, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States.
There was no change in the asset allocation of the United States' Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund. There was a reduction of cash and deposits held by Spain's Social Security Reserve Fund and an increase in bond holdings.
The average allocations of pension plan assets have been calculated over 14 jurisdictions: Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia (from 2003 onwards), Sweden and the United States among OECD countries; and Bulgaria, Hong Kong (China) (from 2002 onwards) and Peru among other jurisdictions. The whole time series of the asset allocation in each of these 14 jurisdictions are available in the statistical annex of this publication. The asset allocation of pension plans in 2019 in Korea is an OECD estimate based on the data available for the year before and after the missing year.
Data on pension providers refer to pension funds only for Belgium and Canada, and to personal plans only for Mexico. Data for Latvia include inflows from switches between plans. Data on public pension reserve funds cover: the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, the Social Security Fund for Costa Rica, the Keva's pension liability fund and the State Pension Fund (VER) for Finland, the Demographic Reserve Fund for Poland, the Social Security Financial Stabilisation Fund (FEFSS) for Portugal, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, the AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States. The 10-year annual average growth rate of inflows is not available for public pension reserve funds.
Data refer to 2015 instead of 2014 for the United Kingdom (automatic enrolment plans) and Zambia. Data refer to 2016 instead of 2014 for Costa Rica, Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, Suriname and Uruguay, Data refer to 2017 instead of 2014 for Romania and Türkiye. Data refer to 2018 instead of 2014 for the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom (voluntary personal plans). See Table A.13. in Annex A for more country-specific notes.
Data for Latvia include inflows from switches between plans. OECD estimate for pension providers in the United Kingdom based on contributions over the first three quarters of 2024. Data on public pension reserve funds cover: the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, the Social Security Fund for Costa Rica, Keva's pension liability fund and the State Pension Fund (VER) for Finland, Fonds de Réserves pour les Retraites (FRR) for France, the Demographic Reserve Fund for Poland, the Social Security Financial Stabilisation Fund (FEFSS) for Portugal, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States.
Pension providers: Data for Latvia include outflows from switches between plans. Panel A: Data for Portugal cover closed and open pension funds and personal retirement saving funds (established as pension funds or as collective investment schemes managed by investment companies), and for 2024 only data also cover personal plans offered by life insurance companies. Panel B: Data refer to pension funds only for Canada and Hungary, and to pension funds and other financing vehicles for Portugal.
Data on public pension reserve funds cover: the Pension Reserve Fund for Chile, the Social Security Fund for Costa Rica, Keva's pension liability fund and the State Pension Fund (VER) for Finland, Fonds de Réserves pour les Retraites (FRR) for France, the Social Security Reserve Fund for Spain, AP1-AP4 and AP6 for Sweden, the AHV Central Compensation Fund for Switzerland, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund for the United States.