ABSTRACT
Pension systems in the countries of the European Union differ in many aspects, such as coverage, financing, qualifying conditions, extent of public involvement, level of old-age and survivor benefits, and type and level of minimum pensions. In order to study the impact of the pension system on pension levels and the distribution of retirement incomes of women and to answer the question whether, a pension system of the Otto Von Bismarck- or of the Beveridge-type is to be preferred, one can choose between two different strategies. The husband's lifetime benefit is the accumulated lifetime old-age benefit for the corresponding partner, again measured in million ATS. The split pension variant increases old-age pension entitlements of women significantly if the woman is or was married and if the husband had a reasonable income himself. Irrespective of the work biography or the length of career interruption, a married woman's old-age benefit is around 90 per cent of that of her husband's.
