Pension reform and the socioeconomic status of older people in Britain and Germany

Abstract

The paper outlines in short the development of old age security systems in the United Kingdom and Germany and shows the current state of the socio-economic status of the elderly. We start with a brief and only the basic conception characterizing description of the old age security systems, followed by a presentation of the political discussion and the development of the law since 2000. Then the current old age policy is evaluated on the basis of four criteria: Income adequacy for pensioners, degree of inequality of pensioner incomes, sustainability of pension schemes and maintenance of incentives to save. This is followed by a brief outline of the emerging challenges over the next ten years. Finally some conclusions are drawn, which occur from the analysis.old age security system; socio-economic status; old age policy; elderly