Publication: Civil-service Pension Schemes Around the World
Date
2006-05
ISSN
Published
2006-05
Author(s)
Palacios, Robert
Whitehouse, Edward
Abstract
There are separate pension schemes for
civil servants in about half of the world s countries,
including some of the largest developing economies, such as
Brazil, China and India. In the higher-income, OECD
countries, spending on pensions for public-sector workers
makes up one quarter of total pension spending. In less
developed countries, this proportion is usually higher. Yet,
very little has been written on the design and reform of
civil-service pension plans, especially when compared with
the voluminous literature on national pension programs. This
paper compares civil service pension schemes across
countries in terms of benefit provision and cost. We find
that in many developing countries, these expenditures are a
greater fiscal burden than in higher income countries where
the tax base is larger. The paper also compares schemes
within the same country covering private sector workers.
Finally, we review key policy issues related to pension
schemes covering civil servants as well as other public
sector workers. In particular, we find that there is little
justification for maintaining parallel schemes in the long run.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Palacios, Robert; Whitehouse, Edward. 2006. Civil-service Pension Schemes Around the World. Social protection and labor discussion paper;no. 0602. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20205 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”