Stronger reforms improve UAE’s pension system score: Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index

Stronger reforms improve UAE’s pension system score: Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index

- UAE improves its score and ranks 25th in the global Index

Dubai, UAE – The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) retirement income system improved its score, ranking 25th globally among countries with robust pension systems such as the United States, Singapore and France in the 14th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI). This is the second year UAE has been included in the report.

Globally, Iceland was top, followed by the Netherlands, while Thailand ranked last. This year’s MCGPI also features Portugal as a new addition.

The MCGPI is a comprehensive study of 44 global pension systems, accounting for 65 percent of the world’s population. It benchmarks retirement income systems around the world, highlighting some shortcomings in each system, and suggests possible areas of reform that would help provide more adequate and sustainable retirement benefits. The UAE retirement income system was benchmarked against global peers across three key areas of focus: adequacy, sustainability, and integrity.

UAE’s overall index value improved from 59.6 in 2021 to 61.8 in 2022, jumping from C to C+. This is primarily due to improvement in its scores for adequacy and sustainability. The UAE’s pension adequacy rankings are supported by the country’s generous retirement benefits, which ensure a