May 2026

Kazakhstan’s Population Is Aging Rapidly as Demographic Pressures Mount

Kazakhstan’s population is aging rapidly, with the number of elderly citizens growing significantly faster than the child population as birth rates continue to decline. According to a study by analysts at Energyprom.kz, the country’s aging index has been steadily rising. In 2021, Kazakhstan had 26.7 elderly people for every 100 children under the age of 15. By 2025, that figure had increased to 32.9. The data suggests Kazakhstan is gradually entering a demographic phase in which the proportion of elderly citizens is growing much faster...

Moldova. Six out of ten agricultural workers work informally and are deprived of social protection

He said about six out of ten people employed in agriculture work without official registration, without labor contracts and without social protection, being paid for temporary work such as harvesting or tending crops. “By comparison, the rate in non-agricultural sectors is six times lower – one in ten. What is informal employment? These are people who accept day jobs because they need money for bread, medicine, bills or debts at the store. More often than not, they don’t even ask...

US. Retirement Savings Fall Far Short of Longevity Expectations

The current life expectancy is 79 years old, but on average U.S. adults surveyed by Pew Research hope to live until 91, according to the 2026 Mind, Body and Wallet report by the Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, a provider of workforce benefits, retirement and wealth solutions.  The wish for longer life, however, did not align with Guardian respondents’ preparedness for a longer retirement. Compared with the previous 15 years that Guardian published its Mind, Body and Wallet report, 2026 results showed persistently low levels of overall wellbeing and financial health. For the third consecutive...

UK. TPR outlines vision for megafunds and simplified pensions market by 2036

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) chief executive, Nausicaa Delfas, has said the UK workplace pensions market could look “very different” by 2036, with a smaller number of large pension megafunds, greater consolidation and more scheme-led retirement solutions becoming the norm. Speaking at the Eversheds Sutherland UK Pensions Conference, Delfas said the pensions market was currently undergoing “the biggest changes in pensions since the introduction of auto-enrolment”. Setting out her vision for the future of the UK pensions system, Delfas said she expected to...

Geopolitical conflict wipes out R200 billion in South African pension funds

The war in Iran revealed that South African pension funds are over-exposed to geopolitical events, which is forcing some of the country’s biggest funds to rethink their investment strategy. This is the feedback from Frans Baleni, chair of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), who noted that the fund took a major hit from the war in the Middle East. Speaking in an interview with Moneyweb Radio, Baleni said the GEPF had built a strong track record of protecting public servants’ retirement...

Canadian DB pension plans return 0.4% in Q1 2026 amid geopolitical tensions: report

The typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan posted a median return of 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, according to a new report by RBC Investor Services. It found Canadian equity allocations returned 3.9 per cent in the quarter, matching the TSX composite index. Energy led sector gains with a 30.1 per cent surge following the Strait of Hormuz closure, while materials rose strongly early in the period, pulled back significantly in March and finished with a...

US. For some older people, retirement today means unretiring

On weekday mornings, Myndie Friedman is out the door just as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean, a block from her home in Long Beach, New York. Friedman's first stop is a 7:30 a.m. bus, which she takes to a local train station for a roughly hourlong trip into Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood. Then she hops on the subway before exiting and hoofing it 10 minutes to her office job. Total commute: two hours door to desk, along with another...

UK. Why we won’t see another pensions bill any time soon

The ink has barely dried on the finalised Pension Schemes Bill, but already attention is turning towards the next legislation that may hit the industry. Many of the Pension Schemes Bill’s elements require secondary legislation and industry consultations, which policymakers will be working on over the coming months. But there are other policy issues that could require legislation in the future, including the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) ongoing consultation on trusteeship and administration. Pensions Expert reported last year that the Pensions...

IMANI Analyst: Ghana Pension Funds Can Finance the Energy Sector

As Ghana confronts the long-term challenge of building a stable, reliable, and affordable energy sector, a policy analyst at IMANI Africa is proposing an unconventional source of capital: the billions of cedis quietly accumulating in the country’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 pension funds. John Sitsofe Mensah, Associate for Technology Policy and Innovation at IMANI’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSTI), argues that Ghana has been sitting on a largely untapped financing opportunity while continuing to court foreign...

Early retirement may be contributing to Gen X’s cognitive decline

While economists sound alarms about Gen Z unemployment, new research points to a quieter crisis: Gen X workers retiring years before 65—and paying a steep cognitive price for it. About 35% of workers who have been unemployed for more than 24 weeks are over the age of 55, according to an April 2025 analysis. Over the last 35 years, the retirement age for men in particular has gotten younger, with about half of retirees saying they made the choice to...