Comparing SASSA government pensions to the rest of the world’s

Following The South African’s startling findings that SASSA government pensions were, in some cases, eight-times less than European equivalents, we wanted to delve deeper. Specifically, we wanted to address the realities of cost of living and rank SASSA government pensions against other schemes from the global South.

Our research led us to a very insightful Global Pensions Index from Mercer CFA. In it, there are rankings of 40 countries across 50 sub-indices – including adequacy, sustainability and integrity – to create a global score and grade.

SASSA GOVERNMENT PENSIONS

As far as the South African Social Security Agency is concerned, SASSA government pensions rank below-average. With grades awarded from A to E, we received a C grade and placed 29 out of 40 nations assessed. This means we have, “A system that has some good features, but also has some major risks and shortcomings that need to be addressed.”

Either side of us in the ranking are Brazil and Italy and, interestingly, we rank higher than our global South and BRICS+ partner, India, which placed 38th. A range of measures recommended to improve SASSA government pensions includes:

• Introducing a retirement savings scheme to boost income.
• Raising the minimum pension for low-income households.
• Reducing overall household debt.
• Increasing coverage and levels of contribution for pensions.

GLOBAL RANK

The top ranked countries are Netherlands, Iceland and Denmark, consistently achieving an A grade since 2015 in the Global Index. The only three nations to do so, an A grade means: “A first-class, robust retirement system that delivers good benefits, sustainability and high integrity. Here’s how SASSA government pensions rank against a cross-section of countries:

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