AXA Group

AXA published on March 22, its 3^rd annual report on retirement. The participants included 11,590 working and retired people in 16 countries*, working individuals expressed their attitudes towards retirement while retirees described retirement realities, producing highly contrasting views.

The social and cultural context for retirement differs from country to country, even if populations are aging in all of them (in 2050, one third of the population in the industrialized world will be aged 60 and over). From a financial point of view however, all of the survey participants understand also the need to assume individual responsibility for retirement.

Contrasting cultural approaches to retirement:

The proportion of working individuals who have begun retirement planning varies a great deal from country to country: from 85% in the US, 66% in Germany and 49% in France to 37% in Italy and a mere 16% in Japan. Among working people, the age at which preparation for retirement begins varies from 28 to 37 years old. The British are the most precocious, starting at 28, nine years earlier than the Chinese.

Contrasting social approaches to retirement:

Retirement age expectations vary greatly. While working people in China expect to retire at 55, working Americans expect to stay in the workforce until 64 years old. In Europe, working people in Spain and Germany expect to retire latest (at age 63) while workers in Belgium and France anticipate the earliest retirement age (61).

Opinions regarding maximum working age range from 56 to 69 years old. In Europe and Asia, workers and retirees consider that people are fit to work until 63 to 64 years old, on average. Anglo-Saxons place the limit at an average 67 to 68 years old. People in China, Italy and Germany are more reserved than elsewhere about the ability of those over 65 to produce quality work.

More than half working people interviewed expect to work during retirement, with a maximum rate of 71% for Singapore. European workers expect less than others to work during retirement and fewer European retirees have a paid work. This is especially true in France, where only four percent of retirees engage in gainful employment, four times less than in Canada, the U.S. or China. The most working retirees are in Japan, where 50% of retirees hold jobs.

Financing retirement: how working people see the future:

More than 70% of those surveyed associate retirement with a decline in income. The most pessimistic are the French, Germans and Japanese (at 85%), especially among retirees.

Aside from the British and Germans, more than 50% of Europeans consider that their retirement income is or will be insufficient.

In every country, people expect retirement reform. More than 80% of those surveyed expect more working years to be required; more than 70% anticipate a reduction in government pension benefits.

The main results, in detail, of the AXA Retirement Scope survey - global synthesis, country reports and press releases - are available at: http://www.retirement-scope.axa.com

* In alphabetical order: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong-Kong, Italy, Japan, New-Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands, UK, USA. For the first time, the AXA Retirement Scope report includes China, where AXA has been active since 1999. People were surveyed in five economic zones, representative of the Chinese market: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Tianjin.