India continues to be among the countries with the lowest values when it comes to measuring pension systems, according to a report by Mercer. The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, which is in its 10th year measures pension systems in 34 countries.

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It is shows who is the most and who is the least prepared to meet the challenges of an ageing population According to the Index, the Netherlands and Denmark (with scores of 80.3 and 80.2 respectively) both offer A-Grade world class retirement income systems with good benefits - clearly demonstrating their preparedness for tomorrow’s ageing world.

The countries with the highest value for the adequacy sub-index are Germany (79.9) and France (79.5) with Mexico (37.3) and India (38.7) having the lowest values.

The Mercer report said that India continues to maintain its level of 2017 in the sub-indices of sustainability and integrity, though the overall index value fell marginally from 44.9 in 2017 to 44.6 in 2018 due to the change from using the median income earner to the average income earner to calculate the net replacement rate in the adequacy sub-index.

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“The demographics and macros economic factors in India are diverse and pension systems have to be aligned to other programs in the country. India has been taking slow but steady steps towards strengthening its retirement income system,’’ the report said.

According to Preeti Chandrashekhar, India Business Leader, Health and Wealth at Mercer certain recent reforms by the government have allowed more investments of pension funds in growth assets have added impetus to helping improving the adequacy of the system. “The effect of such changes are not seen overnight,” she said.