Those Swiss. They have great chocolate, beautiful lakes, fondue. And their citizens may actually be able to kick back and enjoy those things one day. The 2015 Natixis Global Retirement Security Index put Switzerland at the No. 1 spot in its annual ranking of the well-being and "life conditions" that pre-retirees and retirees can expect across 150 countries.
Canada vs. the U.S.: Whose retirement grass is greener?
Although the U.S. and Canada have similar financial structures, political attitudes to the creation and redistribution of wealth are dramatically different across the 49th parallel, which can affect retirement income.
In contrast, Canada lands at no. 12 (up two spots from last year), with the United States just squeaking into the top 20 at spot 19 (unchanged from last year).
The global retirement index analyzes 20 trends across four categories — health, material well-being, finances and quality of life — to rank 150 countries on how likely a secure and comfortable retirement is for their citizens.
On a regional basis, North America (Canada and the U.S.) is at the top of the rankings this year, though with a lower overall score than last year.
"North America's remarkable performance is mostly due to its stability," the report notes. North America is in second place in the "health," "quality of life" and "material well-being" sub-indices and in first place in the finance category. Although Western Europe is at the top of the first three categories, its fourth-place ranking in the "finances in retirement" sub-index drops the region to second place overall.
Canada's best ranking was for "finances in retirement," where it sits at No. 11, down three spots from last year. "Canada's economy performed better than most advanced countries in 2014 and may continue to outperform in 2015 with growth projections among some of the highest for advanced economies," the report noted.
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"While Canada's inflation hovered within the central bank's target of 2%, a recent increase in inflation might prove to be a good thing for savers and retirees in the medium term as it may put pressure on the central bank to increase its key interest rates."
Canada is No. 16 in "quality of life," down from No. 14 last year; No. 24 in "material well-being," a slight improvement from last year's ranking at No. 25; and No. 31 in health, its worst standing.
The U.S. moved up to No. 14 from No. 22 in the "finances in retirement" component of the ranking, thanks to good growth in gross domestic product, low interest rates and low inflation. But the U.S. also has an aging population at a time when government debt is growing, says Ed Farrington, executive vice-president for retirement at Natixis Global Asset Management, which could strain government programs that people count on, like Social Security. The U.S. is No. 19 in health; No. 37 in material well-being, dragged down by income inequality; and No. 25 in quality of life, just behind Mexico.
Overall, the top 30 countries in the 2015 Natixis Global Retirement Security Index are:
1. Switzerland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Iceland
5. Netherlands
6. Sweden
7. Denmark
8. Austria
9. Germany
10. New Zealand
11. Luxembourg
12. Canada
13. Finland
14. South Korea
15. Czech Republic
16. Belgium
17. Japan
18. France
19. United States
20. Slovenia
21. Qatar
22. United Kingdom
23. Israel
24. Malta
25. United Arab Emirates
26. Kuwait
27. Estonia
28. Slovakia
29. Italy
30. Singapore
Financial Post, with files from Bloomberg News
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