ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comparative analysis demonstrating important common features and the major differences among the countries under review. It overviews some macroeconomic and demographic trends, as well as other developments that have an impact on the national pension systems. The chapter provides a short description of pension system reforms that are being implemented in the countries studied. It describes some basic definitions used throughout the country case-studies, provides an assessment of the data sets and discusses relevant methodological issues. The chapter presents some comparisons of income trends and household income composition. It also provides a broad overview of pensioners and their position within the society. Poland and Hungary introduced extensive pension reforms aimed at providing the institutional framework for a three-pillar system, where the second pillar is to be a mandatory funded system, based on individual contributions.
