African countries have failed to make the list as Finland emerged the country with the world’s most trusted pension system, scoring 90.5 out of 100 in the integrity category of the 2026 Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index. Norway and Singapore tied for second place at 90.4, underscoring the strength of their pension governance, regulation and member protections.
The index assessed 55 retirement income systems worldwide. Its integrity sub-index measures how trustworthy a system is, including regulation, governance, member protection, communication and operating costs.
Top 12 systems
| Rank | Country | Integrity score |
| 1 | Finland | 90.5 |
| 2 | Norway | 90.4 |
| 2 | Singapore | 90.4 |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 89.4 |
| 5 | Chile | 88.2 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 87.2 |
| 7 | Australia | 86.8 |
| 8 | Ireland | 85.4 |
| 9 | Israel | 85.1 |
| 10 | Austria | 85.0 |
| 11 | Belgium | 84.9 |
| 12 | Croatia | 84.2 |
Finland’s narrow lead reflects a framework that combines an income-tested basic state pension with statutory earnings-related schemes. The country has consistently ranked first on the integrity measure in recent editions of the index.
Singapore also retained an integrity score of 90.4, while its overall pension-system score rose from 80.8 in 2025 to 82.0 in 2026. The improvement was driven mainly by a higher minimum pension relative to wages.
Overall ranking differs
Although Finland leads on integrity, the Netherlands topped the overall 2026 Global Pension Index with a score of 85.8, followed by Denmark at 84.1 and Iceland at 84.0. Finland ranked ninth overall with 77.6, while Norway was tenth at 77.0.
The overall index evaluates retirement systems across three areas: adequacy, sustainability and integrity. Denmark led sustainability, while Kuwait recorded the highest adequacy score.
