Social scientists fear pensioner poverty across Europe by 2050 - unless decisions are taken now

Dr Paul Bridgen and Dr Traute Meyer, together with a team of researchers from six European countries, have used simulation models to predict how citizens with different occupations and lifestyles could fare on reaching retirement in the middle of this century, under different pension regimes. They drew up 'biographies' of nine types of people to examine the impact of risk factors such as employment patterns, gender and responsibilities such as caring.

'Governments across Europe need to take decisions now about pension systems or millions of elderly people may be living in poverty by 2050,' said Dr Bridgen. 'We are not making specific recommendations because the most appropriate solution will vary across the continent with the different existing pension systems. But political leaders have to start this very important debate now: they need to shift their attention from financial to social sustainability.'

Up until recently, there were major differences between countries such as Germany and Italy with strong state systems that provided generous pension benefits based on income, and nations such as Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands where the private sector plays a larger role in pensions. However, with the private sector now expanding in most European nations all countries face the risk of greater poverty levels in old age.

Dr Bridgen and Dr Meyer are the editors of Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? with Professor Barbara Riedmüller of the Freie Universität, Berlin. The book assesses public-private pension systems in six European countries. It is published by Edward Elgar Publishing.