Dutch pension system still 2nd best in world: Mercer

The Netherlands still has the second best pension system in the world, according to consulting firm Mercer's Global Pension Index. Denmark came in first place, ANP reports.

The gap between the Netherlands and Denmark even decreased somewhat, despite the fact that both countries lost their so-called A status on the Mercer Index. To get the A-status, a country must score 80 points or more out of a hundred. No country managed that in this year's evaluation, according to the news wire.

"The reason that the Netherlands scored less well than last year, is particularly due to a different weighing of indicators, the system hardly changed compared to last year", pension expert Marc Heemskerk explained to the news wire.

According to the researchers, the Netherlands has room for improvement when it comes to labor participation of older people.

Mercer evaluates the pension systems of dozens of countries each year since 2009 on three elements: adequacy, future stability and integrity, This year the index includes 30 countries, three more than last year. The top 10 consists mostly of European countries. Non-European countries that scored well include Australia, Singapore, Canada and Chile.