Pension reforms in the European Union

This book tries to provide an overview of pension systems and pension reforms in the EU countries. To describe characteristics of pension systems together with latest reform steps more comprehensively, a comparative typology of pension systems and reforms was performed. Moreover, this analysis brings interesting findings about a link between pension reform strategies and characteristics of pension systems together with their demographic situation. The analysis is based on principal component analysis of qualitative data and preference mapping (multidimensional preference analysis). The pension system characteristics include variables describing a pension generosity, a development of private pension schemes, and a labor force participation of older workers. To provide a compact overview of pension reforms in the European Union, at first the reasons for implementing necessary pension reforms are listed, followed by description of the first and second tier of pension systems, pension eligibility ages, economic indicators of pension entitlements, two main types of pension system funding (PAYG and funded), and expenditures on public pension systems.