ABSTRACT
The country-specifi c analysis of the eight developing Asian countries covered in this study – the PRC, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam – should make it abundantly clear that the process of building up strong and well-functioning pensions systems is far from complete in the region. The pension systems of the eight countries vary a great deal in terms of key performance indicators such as coverage, replacement rate, sustainability, and overall performance. In addition, the in-depth diagnosis of the country chapters uncovered a wide range of serious shortcomings in every country. The results of OECD’s pension modeling exercise in the Appendix give some quantitative estimates of those shortcomings. The case for reform is compelling even in the more developed East and Southeast countries such the Republic of Korea and Singapore. The case for reform is even stronger in less affl uent countries, which face a serious risk of turning grey before they turn rich. Furthermore, even more mature old age support systems with a relatively long history, such as those of Malaysia and Singapore, continue to face formidable challenges to their central mandate of delivering adequate, affordable, sustainable, robust and equitable old age income support. All in all, the analysis of the eight country chapters and the pension modeling exercise resoundingly confi rm an urgent need for pension reform in developing Asia.
