Thailand has the world’s worst pension system

Thailand often ranks highly in best destination polls and once again the Land of Smiles has come out on top – for having the worst pension system in the world. Iceland is ranked as having the world’s best pension while Singapore is No.1 among Asian countries as having the best pension.

The American asset management firm, Mercer, revealed the survey results of the 14th Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index last Friday, October 14.

Mercer surveyed 66% of the world population in 44 countries around the globe. The survey considered the pension system in each country in three aspects, including adequacy, sustainability, and integrity.

Thailand came 44th. The country was graded D and received 41.7 marks out of 100, which was under the average score of 63.0.

Mercer added that Thailand relied on three types of pension systems: Social Security Fund for every career in the private sector, Provident Fund, and Personal Financial Management like Retirement Mutual Fund (RMF).

Turkey, India, Argentina, and the Philippines also got a D grade.

For Asia, Singapore scooped 74.1 marks and was ranked ninth in the world.

The top 10 countries in order are Iceland (84.7), Netherlands (84.6), Demark (82.0), Israel (79.8), Finland (77.2), Australia (76.8), Norway (75.3), Sweden (74.6), Singapore (74.1), and the UK (73.7).

The survey also revealed that the pension system has changed from the defined benefit (DB) system to the defined contribution (DC) system due to the economic situation. People have to plan for their retirement more carefully compared to the past.

The senior partner of Mercer, David Knox, said each person has become more responsible for their retirement than in the past because of the unstable economic situation, higher inflation rate, and higher interest rate.