Pension Maps: Visualising the Institutional Structure of Old Age Security in Europe

Abstract

Financial protection in old age is indisputably one of the core objectives of modern welfare states and based on a major share of social expenditure. Yet, its legal implementation and institutional organisation vary widely across countries and are often subject to political debate. Despite common pressures posed by demographic and societal change, these national differences in old age security are likely to remain, as the current legal foundations actively shape today’s policy making and dictate – at least to some degree – the pace and direction of future reforms. In cooperation with experts in social security law from all over Europe, the Department of Foreign and International Social Law at the Max Planck Institute of Social Law and Social Policy examines these legal foundations of old age security in Europe and selected non-European countries with the objective of providing a comprehensive and systematic legal overview of the institutional landscape of national old age security in the form of a large-scale cross-country comparative analysis. This first edition of the "Pension Map Report" comprises 10 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Norway and Slovenia), illustrating the status quo in 2020. More countries will be included in subsequent editions.

Keywords: Pension Law, Old Age Security, Cross-Country Analysis