How public pension systems are balanced in OECD countries

We compare t hree parameters across OECD countries ’ public pension systems : The level of pensions paid relative to the working wage; The retirement age (the number of pensioners relative to the number of workers); And the resulting pension share of GDP, i.e. the fiscal effort allocated to pensions . T he pension share also depends on demographics and the overall employment rate. When we compare these parameters across OECD countries, we see that the public pension share of GDP is very significantly influenced by: Demographics, of course; The employment rate among 20-59 and 60-64 year olds: raising the employment rate across the entire working-age population contains the rise in the pension share; Pensioners’ standard of living relative to workers.