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Chinese are confident about their health in old age. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese 'more confident about retirement than Europeans'

A survey finds middle-aged people in China face getting old with confidence, in sharp contrast to counterparts in Japan and Europe

GDN

A "squeezed generation" of middle-aged Europeans are convinced they are going to be poorer in retirement than their parents, according to a global survey that found the Chinese the most confident about their future and the French, Germans and Spanish the most pessimistic.

Americans are the most sure they will enjoy their retirement, the British are among the most likely to worry about being lonely, while individuals in eastern European countries are uniformly morose about their future.

In the first major survey of its kind to include China, pension provider Aegon interviewed 12,000 employees in 12 countries on a wide range of financial planning issues.

It found increasing levels of gloom among workers in the developed world who have lost secure pensions and feel ill-prepared for retirement. Most expect to be worse off in retirement than the current generation of pensioners, while having to support adult children who have not been able to find jobs.

In China, Aegon found a very different picture. A total of 66 per cent of Chinese are optimistic about their retirement, compared with just 38 per cent of British people.

The Chinese are also the most confident that they will be able to retire early, at age 55, compared to other nations. They were also the most likely to believe they will maintain good health in retirement.

But confidence evaporates as you cross the Sea of Japan. Although the Japanese are renowned across the world as diligent savers, the country scored lowest overall in Aegon's "Retirement Readiness Index". "What Japan seemingly provides us with is something of an oddity.

"This is a country which is famed for its high household savings ratio, having amassed over US$1 trillion in private pension assets. But its household savings ratio has actually collapsed since the late 1990s, as real household incomes have been squeezed by two lost decades. Savings have fallen from a peak of 23 per cent of income in the 1970s to around 3 per cent. Employees are not building retirement assets at a rate similar to past generations," said Aegon.

In the survey, 43 per cent of Japanese said they associate retirement with "insecurity" compared to just 13 per cent in China and the US, and 15 per cent in the United Kingdom.

Spain, suffering from 27 per cent unemployment and deeply scarred by the financial crisis, saw the biggest fall in "retirement readiness" since the last survey, while Germany scored highest. China (42 per cent) and Germany (41 per cent) have the greatest percentage who fall into the "medium readiness" category, with Spain (19 per cent) and Japan (17 per cent) having the fewest.

Employees in the United States and Canada were generally more confident than Europeans, but less than the Chinese. Both countries scored highly for having a "written plan" for their retirement. A total of 43 per cent of Americans and 42 per cent of Canadians said they associated retirement with enjoyment compared with just 6 per cent of Hungarians.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Chinese the most upbeat on retiring
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