UK State Pension Falls Behind Other Wealthy Nations, Gender Gap Persists
Current overview (not historical)
The UK basic state pension is low compared to other wealthy nations, providing retirees with a post-tax income equivalent to just 54.2% of average earnings, below the wealthy-country average of 63.2%. Including occupational and personal pensions, overall coverage has improved, but the basic state pension alone remains significantly lower than that of international peers. While the UK leads in automatic enrollment for workplace pensions, a significant gender gap persists, with women receiving approximately one-third less pension income than men.
Written with AI from the reporting · updated 10/24/2026
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- 1Unclassified fact stationOct 24, 08:12single sourcereport-time onlyrevised
UK state pension comparison with other countries
Read original source ↗ BBC BusinessReplay this moment in the explorerEvidence & revisions · 1 source records
- Subject：
- not recorded
- Action：
- analysis of pension systems and replacement rates
- Object：
- UK state pension vs other countries' retirement benefits
- Occurred (fact side)：
- not recorded
- Published (valid side)：
- Oct 24, 08:09
- First seen (known side)：
- Oct 24, 08:12
Fact stationSingle source · one-sided claimRevisedReport-time onlyCopy may have been revised later; time replay is bounded. Layer labels group reading only, not causation between layers.
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- BBC BusinessRelated fact: single sourceFact occurrence time unverifiedSource report revisedUK state pension lower than other wealthy countries after tax, OECD says
Report first recorded Oct 24, 08:12
The UK basic state pension is low compared with other wealthy countries relative to average earnings. After tax, retirement benefits are 54.2% of average UK earnings, below the wealthy-country average of 63.2%. Including occupational and personal pensions narrows the gap, but those relying solely on the state pension are worse off than in many other countries.
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