Pension Markets in Focus

Pension assets in the OECD area hit a record level in 2017

19/10/2018 - Pension assets continued to rise in 2017, exceeding USD 40 trillion in the OECD area for the first time ever, with almost all countries showing positive investment results. This can be attributed to the strong investment performance of pension assets that benefitted from buoyant stock markets.

This edition includes a special feature on the main factors driving the evolution of the funding position of defined benefit plans.

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About Pension Markets in Focus

Recent years have witnessed intense pension reform efforts in countries around the globe, often involving an increased use of funded pension programmes managed by the private sector. These funded arrangements are likely to play an increasingly important role in delivering retirement income in many countries and privately managed pension assets will play an increasing role in financial markets, notably as a source of long-term savings.

This annual report, which now covers 87 countries, gives an overview of private pension systems worldwide and outlines latest developments. It assesses the amount of assets in funded and private pension plans, describes the way these assets are invested in financial markets, and looks at how investments have performed, both in the past year and over the past decade. It provides accurate, comprehensive, comparable and up-to-date statistics to help policy makers, regulators and market participants measure, compare and evaluate programme developments and country experiences globally.