© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Countries with the most public pension wealth in 2025: Public pension wealth, the total value of assets held by the country’s public pension system, plays an important role in determining a country’s financial stability and social security outlook.
It is designed to provide financial security to individuals during retirement and is accumulated through contributions made by employees, employers, and, in some cases, the government itself.
The funds are managed by public pension schemes or government agencies to generate returns through investments, ensuring the system’s sustainability and capacity to meet future obligations.
Furthermore, nations with robust and well-funded public pension systems are better equipped to address the challenges of an ageing population, economic fluctuations, and social inequalities.
Global SWF, in its recent rankings, listed countries as per the public pension assets, reflecting decades of strategic financial planning and investment.
It’s interesting to note that while the United States dominates global rankings with most public pension assets, the world’s largest pension fund by assets belongs to Japan.
With total assets worth US 15,93,141 million dollars as reported by the Thinking Ahead Institute, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is a recent development of the country’s pension system reform.
Nonetheless, the rankings are majorly dominated by Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, which highlight Asia’s dominance and rising importance in global public pension funds for its ageing population.
| Rank | Country | Public Pension Funds (USD, Billion) |
| 1 | USA | $11,760 |
| 2 | Japan | $2,066 |
| 3 | Canada | $1,804 |
| 4 | Netherlands | $1,131 |
| 5 | Australia | $1,121 |
| 6 | South Korea | $948 |
| 7 | UK | $610 |
| 8 | China | $588 |
| 9 | Denmark | $569 |
| 10 | Sweden | $489 |
Source: SWF 2025
On the contrary, India, despite being the world’s most populous nation, ranks 14th in public pension wealth, with assets totalling $305 billion, according to Global SWF 2025. This ranking, however, also highlights critical gaps in the inclusivity and sustainability of its pension system.
This might largely be attributed to the low coverage of the pension system, as almost half of India’s economic output and more than three-fourths of employment in India comprise the informal sector—small and medium enterprises and household proprietary and partnership establishments—due to which there’s a lack of access to adequate social security coverage, including pensions.
As a part of the centre’s effort to reform India’s pension policies, the Union Cabinet last year in August 2024, approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Effective from April 1, 2025, this aims to provide government employees with an assured pension after retirement.
