Although Canadians’ retirement security conditions are mostly holding steady, people are increasingly feeling the pressure to fund their own income later in life, a new report says.
Canada placed 13th in Natixis Investment Managers’ global retirement index, down one spot from last year. The index ranks 44 countries based on scores for 18 performance measures across four categories: finances in retirement, material wellbeing, health and quality of life.
“The list of countries that rank in the top 10 of the index has remained the same for two consecutive years,” Natixis IM said. “However, individuals are feeling the pressure as more and more come to the realization that they are on their own when it comes to funding income later in life.”
In the health category, Canada rose three spots to 10th place, based on “improved performance in life expectancy, as well as progress in insured health expenditure,” the report said.
The country maintained its spot in two categories: quality of life (17th place) and finances in retirement (10th), thanks to improving inflation and interest rate outlooks. However, the report noted that other countries are making “more pronounced progress” in taming inflation.
In the material wellbeing category, Canada dropped to 23rd from 19th place due to its unemployment rate, “which is predicted to average 6.1% in 2024 amid weak domestic demand for jobs,” Natixis IM said.
“Globally, we’ve seen a consistent set of results in this year’s index, though there is room for improvement to be made for most,” said Dave Goodsell, executive director of the Natixis IM Center for Investor Insight, in a release.
The top countries in Natixis’ global retirement index ranking were Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands. The U.S. ranked 22nd and the U.K. was right behind Canada at 14th.
The global retirement index analysis was compiled by Natixis Investment Managers with support from CoreData Research between June and September 2024.