The world’s top 300 pension funds experienced the fastest growth in assets since 2017, according to the latest report from the Thinking Ahead Institute.

The report found that assets under management grew by 13.4% in 2025, reaching a record-high of $27.7 trillion.

The growth was most pronounced among the largest of these 300 pension funds, supporting the notion that the largest funds are getting larger.

For example, the Government Pension Fund of Norway surpassed $2 trillion in AuM for the first time, just a year after it overtook the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan in 2024 as the world’s biggest pension fund.

Since then, it has increased its lead and is now 12.7% bigger than the second largest fund.

In addition, the top 20 largest funds increased their assets by 14.7% to reach a collective total of $11.9 trillion.

“Scale and consolidation are among the defining industry themes of the moment,” said Jessica Gao, director at the Thinking Ahead Institute.

“Not only are the largest funds getting larger, but organisations are also increasingly pursuing growth beyond traditional M&A through strategic partnerships, which provide access to additional expertise, technology, and specialised capabilities.

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