Changes from 2025 to 2026

Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2026

The social and economic environments in which retirement income systems operate are changing constantly. This is why we review the questions used in the Index every year for context and clarity. Given the importance of longitudinal analysis of each system’s grades from year to year, we do this with the view of evolving the questions asked rather than promoting wholesale change.

Impact of new and updated questions

Integrity sub-index

We have added a new question to the Integrity sub-index — Is it an established practice for the pension plan to have an app which is available to participants on their phone? — to reflect changing member expectations around communication and transactions.

Members no longer want to rely on receiving information via mail/inbox: They want immediate access and to be able to carry out transactions in a paperless and instantaneous manner, much like the banking experience, which has become heavily app driven.

We have given this additional question a 2.5% weighting in the Integrity sub-index.

Defined benefit

We have reduced the overall weighting of questions focused on defined benefit (DB) in the Integrity sub-index by 2.5% to accommodate this new question, reflecting the reduction in relative prominence of DB plans in many systems since the MCGPI was first launched.

We have removed two DB-related questions — one on the required funding period for DB shortfalls and another on key DB funding features.

These questions had a combined weighting of 3%.

Concurrently, we increased the weighting slightly (from 2% to 2.5%) for the DB question asking whether minimum funding requirements exist.

Cybersecurity instructions

As technology-related risks continue to grow, we increased the weighting of the two Integrity sub-index questions relating to cybersecurity instructions and guidance and data-breach reporting from 1.0% each to 1.5% each.

Pension plans

To allow for this weighting increase, we combined the questions on requirements for pension plans to have codes of personal conduct for its governing bodies with the question on personal requirements for pension plans trustees/fiduciaries (both in the Integrity sub-index), as both questions assess similar concepts, and reduced the overall combined question weighting from 5% to 4%.

All the changes mentioned above resulted in an increase in the average Integrity sub-index score of 0.4.

Other adjustments

We also made minor but important adjustments to some existing questions. These included:

Widening the definition of pension plans’ governing bodies to include insurers in addition to trustees and fiduciaries;
Focusing only on protection of members benefits in cases of fraud, since mismanagement is a vague term and often unproven;
Removing the specific instance of employer insolvency or bankruptcy for protection of members accrued benefits, since plans are no longer sponsored exclusively by employers;
Adding specific examples of key information expected to be provided to new members on joining a plan;
Removing the requirement for annual reports to show all investments of the plan, since it may not be possible to list all derivatives for example, if invested in a managed fund; and
Recognizing that in some systems, members do not incur fees and therefore this cannot be shown on member statements.

These question updates assisted our local experts in evaluating their retirement income systems in cases where ambiguities may previously have existed.

Change of approach for net pension replacement rate (NRR)

This year’s special chapter explores how aging populations affect pension system sustainability. One driver of an aging population is increasing life expectancies, resulting in retirees living longer in retirement. In light of that, we believe the Adequacy sub-index should consider the adequacy of retirement incomes both at the point of retirement and throughout it. The question on NRRs has therefore been updated to consider a 75% weighting to NRRs at retirement and a 25% weighting to NRRs at age 80.

This change in approach has reduced the average Adequacy sub-index score by 0.2.

Updated data

Since the publication of last year’s Index, the OECD has published Pensions at a Glance 2025 OECD and G20 Indicators, which updated several data points used in the Index. For some systems, this led to significant changes to the Adequacy sub-index.

The basic or targeted pension expressed as a percentage of the average wage

Has changed significantly in some systems. The Argentinian result has more than halved, which we understand is due to increases in wages relative to pension. For this system, the impact on the overall Index score has been a decrease of 2.4.

The net replacement rates at retirement

Were increased materially for Australia (due to reflecting the means testing in retirement for those purchasing qualifying lifetime income products) and Chile (due to announced increases in contribution rates). For these systems, the impact on the overall Index score has been an increase of at least 2.9. This compares to Croatia where the net replacement rates at retirement were decreased (which we understand is due to a reduction in retirement age applied in modelling). For this system, the impact on the overall Index score has been a decrease of 2.3.

Additional systems

The Index has been expanded in 2026 to include three new retirement income systems: the Dominican Republic, Kenya, and Qatar. This addition continues our long-standing practice of considering a variety of systems from different economic, geographical, and political backgrounds. This approach highlights an important purpose of the Index: to enable comparisons of different systems around the world with a range of design features operating within different contexts and cultures. The Index now includes 55 retirement income systems covering more than 66% of the world’s population.

Significant score changes

The Index scores for retirement income systems change from year-to-year due to updated data, questions, and/or pension reforms. Occasionally, scores are updated based on enhanced data promoting a better understanding of a pension system, often as local specialists interrogate the Index to see how a country’s system could improve retirement outcomes for its citizens. The most significant changes in 2026 were for:

Oman

An increase in the Index score of 9.0, due primarily to updated data for the minimum pension as a proportion of average wage (reflecting a more representative wage figure), updated data for coverage of the working age population in pension schemes, and updated data for pension scheme assets as a proportion of GDP

Taiwan

An increase in the Index score of 7.9, due primarily to improved responses to adequacy questions and updated data for household savings rate

Saudi Arabia

An increase in the Index score of 5.6, due primarily to updated data for coverage of the working age population in pension schemes (reflecting a more accurate membership) and improved responses to several integrity questions

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

An increase in the Index score of 5.1, due primarily to an increase in the minimum pension as a proportion of average wage, improved responses to transition to retirement requirements (due to more availability of data on each Emirate), and updated data for coverage of the working age population in pension schemes

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