Dutch women making gains, but still lag far behind men on pensions – CBS

NETHERLANDS - The number of Dutch women with supplementary pensions has increased by almost 10% in the last decade, but they are still far from achieving second-pillar parity with male pensioners, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has found.

According to the CBS, the number of women with second-pillar benefits increased from 50% in 2000 to 59% in 2010. By comparison, that figure currently stands at more than 90% for men.

The CBS also found that female pensioners - with a gross additional pension of €8,000 on average - receive roughly half as much as men.

Statistics Netherlands attributed the increase in the number of women with supplementary pensions to the retirement of younger generations, which tend to have second-pillar pension rights.

Although the married and co-habiting female pensioners demographic has shown the sharpest increase - from 20% to 36% - the overall number of these women who have second-pillar pension is still relatively small, the CBS said.

The percentage of single female pensioners with a supplementary pension increased slightly, but their benefits were much higher than those of retired females with a partner.