As 2025 draws to a close, European Pensions takes a look back at some of the most-read stories from the year

UK pensions adequacy omission in Mansion House speech

In July, the pensions industry in the UK expressed disappointment after British Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, failed to announce the launch of the second phase of the pensions review at her Mansion House speech.

Our most read story of the year proved popular with readers across Europe, perhaps because pension adequacy is a challenge facing most countries on the continent.

Before Reeves’ speech, there were rumours that she would announce plans to appoint a commission to lead the pensions adequacy review, looking at auto-enrolment rates alongside the state pension and savings of the self-employed.

However, while pensions were mentioned in the speech, there was no mention of the much-anticipated adequacy review.

To the pension industry’s delight, later that same month, the government revived the Pensions Commission as part of its work to explore the barriers stopping people from saving enough for retirement, with the commission set to share its final report in 2027.

The commission is investigating why tomorrow’s pensioners are likely to be poorer than today’s, examining the pension system as a whole and assessing what is needed to build a future-proof pension system that is strong, fair, and sustainable.

Retirement age increases in Sweden and Denmark

A trend seen across Europe, rising retirement ages, also proved to be popular with readers.

Notably, announcements of increased retirement ages in Sweden and Denmark caught the attention of the industry.

In April, new target retirement ages for Swedish savers came into force, after the Swedish government (the Riksdag) confirmed that it had decided to raise the target retirement age to 67 years.

The changes were made to prevent pensions from becoming lower in line with increasing life expectancy, as life expectancies have increased, meaning that pensions need to be paid out for more years.

The Swedish target age is decided each year and is used six years later. In line with this, the Riksdag decided that the target age for the years 2020 – 2024 is 67 years, which in practice will be applied during the years 2026 – 2030.

The minimum age for drawing income and premium pensions is three years before the target age, although there are certain exceptions due to transitional rules. This means that, under the changes, the earliest savers can withdraw income and premium pension from the age of 64 if their target age is 67.

Meanwhile, Denmark made international headlines in May when the Danish Parliament (Folketing) adopted a bill to increase the state pension age to 70 from 2040.

The bill to raise the retirement age is a consequence of the 2006 Welfare Agreement, in which a broad majority in the Folketing agreed that the state pension age ensured a connection between life expectancy and retirement age.

The vote, which secured a majority, means everyone born after 31 December 1970 can retire when they turn 70. The state pension age is currently 67, but it will increase to 68 in 2030 and 69 in 2035.


German pension reforms

There has been a series of German pension reforms in the pipeline this year, with the most recent developments to the bills on occupational pensions and private pensions.

However, the development that proved to be most popular with readers was published at the very start of the year, when a series of changes to the German state pension came into force.

As outlined by the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV), additional income limits on pensions were introduced, as well as improved protection for reduced earning capacity, and a continuation of the rise of the pension age, amongst other measures.

Next year will be an important year for pensions in Germany, as on Friday, 19 December, the Federal Council passed the Act on Stabilising Pension Levels and Full Equal Treatment of Child-Rearing Periods (Pension Package) and the Second Act on Strengthening Occupational Pension Provision and Amending Other Acts (Second Occupational Pension Strengthening Act).

In the same week, the cabinet also initiated the Act on the Reform of Private Pension Provision.

However, several aspects have been criticised by The German Association of Actuaries (DAV) and the Institute of Pension Actuaries (IVS) who said they “continue to see a lack of a viable long-term vision for old-age provision” in the country’s pension reforms.


Dutch fund ABP sells Tesla shares

Tesla featured in several European Pensions articles this year, as funds announced their decision to divest from the automotive company.

Who could also forget the publication of messages between Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) CEO, Nicolai Tangen, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, which revealed an awkward exchange over a dinner invitation.

However, the story that caught our readers’ attention was a statement from Dutch pension fund, ABP, following several press reports indicating that it was selling its shares in the company, and there were reports this was due to Musk’s “extreme behaviour”.

Musk then personally responded to this on his platform X, stating that ABP was losing money due to the sale of those shares.

However, ABP stated that its decision to sell shares took place in the third quarter of 2024 and had nothing to do with growing “Tesla shame” or with Musk's “extreme behaviour”.


Pensioenfederatie drops PensionsEurope membership

In September this year, there was shock in the industry as the Dutch Pension Federation (Pensioenfederatie) announced that it will end its membership of PensionsEurope as of 1 January 2026.

It said this was due to a difference of opinion between the federation and several members of the association.

Expanding on this, the federation said that the disagreement centred on the management of the supporting office, the strategic future, and the financing of PensionsEurope.

Pensioenfederatie said that it had "long sought a constructive dialogue and proposed various solutions", but that "unfortunately, this has not led to an agreed solution".


Global pension crises

Taking a global view, the findings of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025, published in January, caught the attention of readers.
The report warned that the global pension crises “will start to bite” over the next decade in super-ageing societies.

Super-ageing societies featured as a key theme in this year’s edition, which is linked to risks such as inequality and societal polarisation. A super-ageing society is when over 20 per cent of a country’s population is over 65 years old. Several countries have already exceeded that mark, such as Japan, Italy and Germany.

However, many more countries across Europe and Eastern Asia are projected to do so by 2035. Globally, the number of people aged 65 and older is expected to increase by 36 per cent, from 857 million in 2025 to 1.2 billion in 2035.

“Over the next decade the pensions crises and their implications will start hitting home in super-ageing societies, as it becomes clear that current state pension systems were designed for a much younger demographic with fewer years of retirement that needed funding,” the report noted.

The report also identified that the second pillar of pensions will struggle as a result of super-ageing societies, in addition to first pillar state pensions. This is because many countries are moving away from defined benefit (DB) systems to defined contribution (DC) systems, putting the onus on individuals to save for and manage their retirement income.

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