6 Demographic change and partial funding: is the Swedish pension reform a role model for Germany?

With the exeeption of Ireland most OECD eountries ean be deseribed by a similar demographie development whieh forees the welfare states to reform their social seeurity systems and espeeially their pension systems. The populations of all the member states are shrinking and getting older. This holds for Sweden and above all for Germany. Due to OECD figures the share of the ones 65 and over of the total population in West Germany has risen from 10.8 per eent in 1960 to 16.2 per eent in 1997 and it is assumed to double until 2040. In Sweden the rise was the same with 11.8 per cent in 1960 and 17.4 per eent in 1997. The forecasts are very similar to the German ones.