The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, compiled by Mercer and the Australian Centre for Financial Studies, is a comparison of 18 pension schemes that together account for around 50 percent of the world’s population.

The pension schemes are compared using over 40 different indicators. Top of the class with an A grade for its pension scheme was Denmark, the United Kingdom scored a C+, and the United States, Germany, and France were given straight Cs. Countries at the bottom of this list, receiving the lowest grade D, were India, China, Japan, and South Korea. As the best pension provider, Denmark has a public basic pension scheme with a means-tested supplementary pension benefit. In addition, it has fully funded mandatory private schemes. These are organized by large funds as opposed to spate company. Investigate your country’s pension provisions and compare them to that of its near neighbors. Do you prefer any scheme in particular? Explain.