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.
Published on March 20, 2019
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