Statistics in Focus. Statistics on Pension Funds.

Abstract

The provision of pensions is a very important issue for all citizens of the European Union. Likewise it is an important issue on all EU government’s agendas. This is not only due to the fact that the increasing burden on state schemes (i.e. ageing population) is leading to a growing need for supplementary pension systems in order to try to maintain the level of retirement income of the populations, but also to the fact that full mobility of labour aimed by the Single Market will only be achieved if further liberalisation and harmonisation of supplementary pension systems is reached. The importance of supplementary pensions in the European capital markets is also justified as pension funds are very important institutional investors which are expected to grow in the coming years. To meet the growing demand for information on supplementary pensions in Europe, Eurostat started a voluntary data collection on the subject. The data in the present report refers for most Member States to the accounting year 1997. Due to heterogeneity of national systems, the absence of European legislation on the subject and hence to difficulty to find common denominators, the information requested is not yet completely available from all Member States.