December 2025
09Dec

Côte d’Ivoire Insurers Push for Pension Reform as Life-Insurance Penetration Stalls at 0.6%

Côte d’Ivoire’s Association of Insurance Companies (ASA-CI) has called for a mandatory supplementary pension plan for private-sector workers. The proposal was presented at the country’s first life-insurance conference, held in Abidjan on Dec. 3-4. Under the proposed scheme, private-sector employees would make additional contributions to boost their future retirement income, as the basic pension often fails to cover living costs, according to the ASA-CI. To support the new plan, the ASA-CI urged the government to develop tailored retirement savings and investment...

December 9, 2025
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09Dec

Germany. Merz hopes to avoid German coalition crisis with vow to overhaul pensions

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday his coalition has agreed to carry out a comprehensive pension reform next year, a move aimed at easing concerns over an interim pensions bill that had threatened to destabilise his government. The youth wing of Merz's conservatives had said they would not back the new bill, which aims to maintain current pension levels in relation to incomes while incentivizing people to work longer, as it would leave younger Germans to bear the costs. Their...

December 9, 2025
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08Dec

The evol­u­tion of pen­sion reforms in India

India’s rap­idly age­ing pop­u­la­tion is emer­ging as a pivotal pen­sion chal­lenge. Today, over 153 mil­lion Indi­ans are aged over 60. This is pro­jec­ted to double to 347 mil­lion by 2050. While a small sec­tion of older Indi­ans has benefited from the rise of formal sec­tor retire­ment, more than 88% of today’s senior cit­izens con­tinue to work, in the sprawl­ing informal eco­nomy, without access to pen­sions or reli­able social secur­ity rather than retir­ing (Chart 1). We revisit the evol­u­tion of...

December 8, 2025
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04Dec

The German far left grants last-minute approval to pension reform

The opposition party Die Linke announced on Wednesday that it would abstain from Friday's vote on pension reform, thus allowing Friedrich Merz's government to avoid a potentially destabilizing parliamentary defeat. This abstention effectively guarantees the passage of the highly contested bill and offers the chancellor a respite after several weeks of political tension. The bill aims to maintain current levels of state pensions until 2031, a measure presented as a key pillar of the coalition agreement between the conservative Merz...

December 4, 2025
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03Dec

‘Generation war’ dogs pension debates in France and Germany

A generational reckoning is brewing in Paris and Berlin, where a new wave of younger politicians is putting pensioners on notice: The system is buckling and can’t hold unless retirees do more to help fix it. Culture, language and local politics may add a distinct flavor to each debate, but the European Union’s two biggest economies are dealing with the same issue — how to pay for the soaring costs associated with the retirement of baby boomers. The problem is both...

December 3, 2025
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November 2025
28Nov

Financial sustainability for the expansion of non-contributory pension systems and the eradication of old-age poverty

By Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Ernesto Espíndola & Juan Ignacio Vila Income protection is a substantive factor and a priority of social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular at either end of the life cycle (i.e. childhood and old age). This is due to the greater vulnerability and lower earning capacity of these population segments compared with other age groups, among other factors (Santos Garcia, Farías and Robles, 2023). In these circumstances, pension systems, in particular...

November 28, 2025
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28Nov

German government finds pension compromise to resolve showdown

Germany's coalition government has pledged to undertake far-reaching reforms of the country's pension system, while sticking to previously agreed pension levels, in a bid to resolve a rebellion within Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative ranks. The measures are outlined in a draft document seen by dpa on Friday, following late-night talks on Thursday between leading conservatives and their junior partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). Under the agreement, a pensions commission is to present proposals for a comprehensive reform by mid-2026. The commission...

November 28, 2025
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27Nov

Germany’s pension reform becomes a generational conflict

As in France, pensions have become a source of political instability in Germany. For several weeks, the future of the system has poisoned the atmosphere within the government led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in office since May 6. Returning from his international trips focused on Ukraine, Merz has had to confront internal rebellion, described as the coalition's most serious crisis yet. The young elected members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), gathered in the Junge Union organization, have challenged...

November 27, 2025
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18Nov

Germany’s Merz confronts conservative rebellion over pension reform

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is facing rising opposition — but this time it’s from within his own conservative ranks. A group of 18 young lawmakers in Merz’s conservative bloc are threatening to stop a pension reform bill put forth by the chancellor’s coalition government, arguing the benefits pledged in the agreement aren’t sustainable and “cannot be justified to the younger generation.” The revolt has turned into a test of Merz’s authority and the durability of his relatively weak government — a coalition between...

November 18, 2025
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18Nov

ILO Advances Its Work on Social Protection in Ukraine, Supporting the Country’s Ongoing Pension Reform

The ILO team engaged in constructive dialogue with Ukrainian partners. A key discussion took place with Denys Ulutin, Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity, who shared the Government’s approach to building a system that is resilient and forward-looking. The goal of the policies we are working on is a contemporary, sustainable system that supports people and the economy. It is not only about benefits, but also about creating conditions for development. Denys Ulutin, Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity...

November 18, 2025
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