The study, which HSBC calls the largest of its kind, found that 80% of people, mostly of working age, could continue working at any age. The share of people wishing to work after reaching retirement age ranged from 93% in the US to 62% in India.
45% of respondents believe that raising the retirement age is the best way to deal with the pension funding problems faced by many countries. The pension deficit is caused by various factors, including increased life expectancy, declining birth rates, and the aging of the “baby boomer” generation. Only 26% of respondents approved higher pension taxes as a solution, and only 15% spoke in favor of reducing the size of pension payments.
Despite changing attitudes toward old age, early retirement from one's main job remains the norm. The average global retirement age in 2004 was 58, and respondents who were still working wanted to retire at 59 on average.
According to the report, laws and employer rules often do not give people the freedom they want to choose their place in old age. The survey covered 11,500 adult residents of Brazil, Britain, Hong Kong, India, Canada, China, Mexico, the United States, France, and Japan, whose combined population exceeds half of the world's.
Researchers also found in six of the ten countries a desire among respondents to change their lifestyle relatively often. Thus, instead of following the common “education – work – retirement” model, respondents wanted to switch between work, rest, and education several times during their lives. The survey also revealed uncertainty about financial stability in old age, which partly explains people's intentions to stay in work for as long as possible. Only 14% of respondents equate old age with financial independence.
The Japanese turned out to be the least ready for retirement, and North Americans the most prepared. The study also revealed major differences between developed and developing countries. For example, in India people have to keep working to survive.
Incomes of American pensioners
fall short of the level of developed countries
US social protection is one of the least generous pension systems in developed countries. These data are provided in a comparative analysis conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
As the Financial Times writes, the average worker in a developed country can expect a state pension amounting to 70% of their pre-retirement income after taxes. The corresponding figure for the US is 39%. And the total income of an American worker in retirement averages 51% of pre-retirement income after taxes.
Debates over the US pension system are heating up amid the vast number of pension payment systems existing in the world. According to OECD experts, it is better to retire in Luxembourg than in Ireland. It is better to be poor in New Zealand than in Germany; it is better to be well-off before retirement in Italy than in the US.
OECD experts argue that the US pension system is more effective in redistributing income for poor retirees than some of the systems in developed countries, but it lacks the simplicity of fixed pensions offered by countries such as New Zealand and Ireland.
Research shows that countries' pension systems differ not only in whether they fulfill promises of payments upon reaching retirement age, but also in generosity and redistribution of income in favor of the poor.
Representatives of the Paris-based organization, whose remit includes working to increase the efficiency of economies in developed countries, believe that most states, when undertaking pension reform, try to ease pressure on the state budget rather than check the adequacy of pensions paid against needs or improve the pension distribution mechanism.