Women in Sweden are at risk of receiving "significantly" lower pensions than men, despite the pay gap gradually closing, a report by Skandia has found.

The report, The Pension Trap - How much saving is needed for gender-equal pensions, pointed out that even if wages become more equal, significant differences in future pensions remain.

In particular, for civil servants in the private sector, the differences are expected to be greatest. For instance, for female systems analysts aged 40 and over, the gap was so large that up to SEK 4,900 per month would need to be saved to achieve equal pensions.

Meanwhile, a female principal in her 40s would need to save over SEK 600 a month to receive the same pension as her male colleague, even if they have the same job.
 
For younger women, for example in preschool management, where salaries are almost equal, smaller additional savings are still needed depending on how family responsibilities are usually shared.

However, the report also suggested that if the trend towards more gender-equal wages continues, the need for additional savings would be greatly reduced.

Given this, women in professions such as principals and communicators could reduce their savings needs by up to 80 per cent if salaries continue to converge with those of men.

In addition to this, Skandia said spouses could also consider transferring premium pension rights within the state pension to equalise pensions between them but noted that this was not possible for cohabiting couples.

It also pointed out that there was currently no specific form of private pension saving for the broad group of wage earners.

The report also highlighted that despite policy reforms and increased awareness, achieving equal pensions still required conscious efforts from individuals, employers, and politicians alike.

Commenting on the report, Skandia pension economist, Mattias Munter, said: “Despite major advances in the labour market, women are at risk of continuing to receive lower pensions than men in the same occupation.

“It is therefore important to understand how different life decisions, such as part-time work during the early years, affect pensions. My best advice is to talk about pensions at the kitchen table more often - start pension dating.

“Policy initiatives to allow cohabiting couples to transfer premium pension rights between themselves and a new form of personal pension savings would be very useful.

“But pending such developments, endowment insurance and investment savings accounts are the most popular options for saving for retirement.”

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