Skewed distribution of pension assets

Pension assets by country  
CountryAssets (€bn)Occupational pension assets as % of GDP**
United Kingdom 1,864.60 74.5
Norway 1,697.20 9.3†
Netherlands 1,568.00 152.4
Switzerland 925 140.5
Germany 777.1 6.4
Denmark 645.1 200
Sweden 569.6 4.3‡
France 417.3 8.7
CEE 256.6 –
Finland 253.8 54.9
Italy 245 11.3
Iceland 46.3 180.4
Ireland 42.9 23.2
Austria 42.8 6.9
Portugal 41.1 12.3
Belgium 27.1 7.6
Spain 21 11.1
Other 287.6 –
*Source: IPE Top 1000 research
**Source: OECD Pension Markets in Focus Preliminary 23 data (June 2024)
†Excl GPFG
‡Excl AP funds

Map showing total pension assets per European country

Europe’s pension industry regains strength

IPE Top 1000 overall assets (€trn)

IPE Top 1000 overall pension assets by year 2015 (6.16€trn) to 2024 (9.73€trn)

Source: IPE Research

 

A consistent ranking of top ten players

Top 10 as % of total AUM

Top 10 largest pension funds as % of total AUM

Source: IPE Research

 

UK share declines, Norway’s increases

Asset split by country (%)

Asset split by European country (%) - Highest UK (19.17); Lowest Italy (2.52)

Source: IPE Research; *Includes Iceland 0.48%; Ireland 0.44%; Austria, 0.44%; Portugal 0.42%; Belgium 0.28%; Spain 0.22%

 

Different stages of maturity

Number of pension funds in top 1,000 ranking per country

Number of pension funds in top 1,000 ranking per European country

Source: IPE Research

 

Strong 2023 returns across the region

Pension fund returns in select countries (€trn)

Pension fund returns (€trn) for 2022 and 2023 in Spain, portugal, Norway, Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Belgium and Austria

Source: OECD Pension Markiets in Focus, June 2024. Nominal rate of returns of asset-backed pension arrangements.

 

Fixed income dominates portfolios

Asset allocation by country (%)

Asset allocation by European country (%): Equity; Fixed income; Cash; Collective investment schemes; Other

Source: OECD Pension Markets in Focus Preliminary 2023 data (June 2024); *OECD Pension Funds in Figures, 2023 (data as of end 2022). Data on asset allocation in these figures include both direct investment in equities, bills and bonds, cash and deposits and indirect investment through CIS when the look-through of CIS investments is available. Otherwise, investments by pension funds in CIS are shown in a separate category.

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Topics

Top 1000 Pension Funds 2024: Pensions back at a sweet spot

Top-1000-2024-900x613

Assets for the leading 1000 European pension funds grew by 8.7% year-on-year, reversing last year’s loss of 6.8%. This brings total assets back up to above their previous high water mark of €9.7trn in 2022’s research exercise. This year’s overall net gain in assets of €775bn is the largest since ...