Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2025 

The Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index benchmarks 52 retirement income systems worldwide, spotlighting both challenges and opportunities for policymakers and investors. This year’s index expands with Kuwait, Namibia, Oman, and Panama added, incorporates updated OECD data, and introduces new integrity measures for sharper insights. Systems are assessed across three pillars, adequacy, sustainability, and integrity, using more than 50 indicators. In 2025, the Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark, Singapore and Israel all achieved coveted A-grades, with Singapore making history as the first Asian country to reach that standard. With eight upgrades and no downgrades, the results signal a long-term trend of strengthening resilience in pension systems globally.

Each year, the index also features a deep dive into a topical issue. In 2025, the focus is on the delicate balance governments face when encouraging private pension funds to invest in areas of national priority, raising important questions at the intersection of policy and retirement security.

Download the report below to discover more about the analysis and your pension system.

With governments around the world considering how to adopt measures to regulate, restrict, or influence private pension fund investments, this year’s feature chapter reviews current policies, the rationale behind them, and the principles that can guide a balance between serving pension plan participants and advancing broader national interests.

In many countries, governments impose direct or indirect restrictions on pension fund assets. The OECD noted in 2022 that only a minority of countries impose no ceilings, relying solely on the prudent person principle. Recent debates have also highlighted the role of pension funds in supporting long-term societal and economic goals, prompting governments to consider encouraging domestic investment in areas of national priority.

This chapter reviews these restrictions and their alignment with the fundamental objective of serving participants’ best interests. It also proposes eight principles to guide collaboration between governments and the pension industry:

1. The primary purpose of pension funds is to provide retirement income to the fund’s participants and their dependants
2. Trustees and fiduciaries must act in the best interests of the pension fund’s beneficiaries
3. Pension legislation should require all pension funds to develop a comprehensive investment policy and to have sound investment governance practices
4. Pension funds must consider the full range of available investment opportunities, recognising that available opportunities are impacted by a country’s economic development
5. Governments can make particular investments attractive to pension funds without the use of compulsion and should refrain from requiring a ‘floor’ level of investment in a particular asset class. The actual investment decision should be left to the pension fund
6. Pension funds should collaborate together and with government to increase investment opportunities in areas where pension funds may not otherwise have the scale or risk appetite to invest; e.g. infrastructure projects through public private partnerships
7. There should be transparent public disclosure relating to the actual investments held, their returns and risks, but no performance tests or fee caps applied to pension fund investments
8. When private pension fund assets are a significant percentage of GDP, governments must recognise the impact and interactions between their fiscal and social policies and the implications for present and future retirees