Governments Promised Retirement. The Math Says They Can't Afford It

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The U.S. isn't the only country in dire straits going forward.
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Global pension assets across 22 major markets reached a record $68.3 trillion at end-2025, rising 9.6% in a single year, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute’s Global Pension Assets Study published February 9, 2026. The six largest systems in this analysis collectively held approximately $57 trillion, covering roughly 25 cents on every dollar of the $224 trillion they are projected to owe by 2050.

The WEF’s 2017 landmark study, reaffirmed at Davos in January 2025, projected that the six largest pension economies will face a combined shortfall of $224 trillion by 2050. The US alone accounts for $137 trillion of that gap, more than 60% of the total across the six countries. Across all retirement systems globally, the WEF estimates that the savings gap is widening by $28 billion each day.

OECD countries currently have 33 people aged 65 and over for every 100 working-age adults. By 2050, that figure rises to 52 per 100, according to OECD Pensions at a Glance 2025. The underlying workforce ratio has collapsed from 7.2 workers per retiree in 1950 to a projected 2.1 by 2050, a 71% decline in the support base over one century.

The US Social Security trust fund is now projected to deplete between 2032 and 2033, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the 2025 Trustees Report. At depletion, incoming payroll revenue covers only 77% of scheduled benefits. The WEF’s original six-country study calculated the average individual shortfall at $300,000 per person across these markets.

https://www.ebc.com/forex/global-pension-crisis-224-trillion-retirement-gap