An increasing number of working Canadians expect pension reform to occur in the next 10 years, according an international survey on retirement issues by AXA Group.

A high percentage (75%) of Canadians also favour reducing the tax burden on the retired. Such measures are especially desired by the working (81%) and by retired Quebecers (82%).

Conducted in 11 countries, the survey reveals that 55% of working Canadians expect pension reform to occur, up 11 percentage points from the 2004 survey.

Seventy-five per cent of working Canadians also anticipate they will have to work longer before retiring, while 70% think their public pension benefits will be reduced.

Similarly, compared with their counterparts worldwide, working Canadians are among the least inclined (35%) to assume complete responsibility for funding their retirement. Most feel that government (81%) and employers (67%) are also responsible. For their part, workers in Japan (75%), Hong Kong (72%) and Germany (62%) are more convinced that the responsibility falls mainly on the individual.

According to the survey results, working Canadians are among the most far-sighted in the world when it comes to preparing for retirement. Specifically, 78% of the working population age 25 and over has begun their retirement preparations, an 8% increase from last year. As a result, Canada now ranks third in the world, just behind the United States (84%) and Germany (82%).

Also, Canadians are preparing for retirement increasingly early, at age 30 on average. Only workers in the United Kingdom begin their retirement preparations earlier (age 28). Moreover, the survey revealed that working Canadians are the third biggest savers in the world, exceeded only by their counterparts in the United States and Hong Kong (once exchange rates have been taken into account). Canadian respondents said they saved an average $586 a month for retirement.

Less positively, only 20% of the Canadians who responded to the survey said they could calculate the amount of income they will receive when the retire.

When it comes to saving for retirement, Canadians tend to prefer safe and diversified financial investments. Life insurance and tax-sheltered savings plans remain the most popular ways of supplementing government pension plans.

Some Canadians, especially the more affluent, are less risk adverse. One in two Canadians, and an even higher percentage of the retired (62%), rely on stock market investments to help fund their retirements.

Employer pension funds also play a key role retirement preparations, in particular for retirees.

The AXA survey sample included 6,915 working and retired people in 11 countries. The survey was conducted between July 14 and August 21, 2004, by a consortium of polling firms headed by GfK Group and represented in Canada by CROP. The following countries were involved: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

AXA Canada offers a broad range of P&C and life insurance products and financial services to its clients through its 1,900 employees and 4,000 brokers and advisors. It is a member of the AXA Group, a world leader in financial protection, whose business is concentrated in the North American, Western European and Asia/Pacific markets.