The city-state’s Central Provident Fund received an overall score of 82.0 on the 18th edition of the Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index released on Tuesday by professional services firm Marsh, formerly known as Mercer.
The annual index, previously known as the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index, was renamed this year after Mercer adopted the Marsh brand in September. The latest edition was produced in collaboration with the CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals, and Monash University’s Monash Centre for Financial Studies.
It assesses 55 retirement income systems worldwide, covering 66% of the global population, using more than 50 indicators across three key pillars: adequacy, sustainability and integrity.
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The iconic Merlion with view of Singapore city in the background. Photo from Unsplash |
Adequacy measures whether a system provides sufficient income to maintain a decent standard of living while sustainability assesses its long-term ability to meet future obligations and integrity gauges the level of trust in the system.
Singapore’s score increased by 1.2 points this year, driven by a jump in adequacy even as sustainability edged down and integrity stood unchanged.
The CPF received an A grade, awarded to retirement income systems that provide good benefits, are sustainable and demonstrate a high level of integrity.
This was Singapore’s second consecutive year receiving the A grade after it became the first in Asia to earn the rating in the 2025 edition.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong placed second with a score of 71.2 and a B grade this year while mainland China’s rating improved from C to C+.
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia’s system was rated C+ with its score rising to 61.1 from 60.6. It ranked third in Asia and was followed by Vietnam (54.6), Thailand (52.2) and Indonesia (50.7) in the C grade, with only Indonesia seeing a slight drop in overall score.
The Philippines remained in the D grade though its score rose to 49.2 from 47.1.
Globally, the Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland continued to lead the ranking, scoring 85.8, 84.1 and 84.0, respectively.