UK Tumbles In Retirement Rankings; Norway Comes Up Trumps Again - Natixis

Josh O'Neill

20 July 2017

The UK dropped a place in a global retirement index this year, as Brexit-related economic fallout spurred a foreboding feeling about retiree welfare, according to .

The UK fell to 18th place in the world rankings for retirement security, Natixis’ Global Retirement Index showed.

The index, now in its fifth year, is an annual comparison tool for best practices in retirement policy. It considers 20 drivers of retiree welfare and groups them into four indices: finances in retirement; health; quality of life; and material wellbeing.

The UK’s decline was due largely to the continuing low-yield environment, exacerbated by uncertainty over the country’s political and economic future due to Brexit headwinds.

The index pointed out that the UK had only improved its sub-ranking in two areas - finances in retirement and quality of life. Finances in retirement, however, which includes factors such as interest rates, inflation, tax pressure and public debt, was still “by far” the UK’s worst performing indicator, Natixis said.

This marks the second consecutive year the UK has scored at the very bottom of countries surveyed on the interest rates indicator because low rates erode retirees’ savings. In terms of governance and bank non-performing loans, however, the nation performed “relatively strongly,” Natixis said.

“In the UK, macroeconomic factors will continue to heavily impact retirees in light of Brexit-related uncertainty and the economic adjustments that are taking place as result,” said Chris Jackson, chief international operations officer for Natixis Global Asset Management. “Any potential interest rate rise would have a positive impact on retirees’ ability to generate an income from their savings. However, as the UK’s future remains uncertain, the likelihood of an interest rate rise is unlikely.”

Meanwhile, Western Europe again dominated the index in terms of numbers, with eight of the top ten countries drawn from the region.

Emulating recent years’ results, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland remained the three most attractive countries for retirement.