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Study finds Switzerland is a great place to retire

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Study finds Switzerland is a great place to retire
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Switzerland is second only to Norway as the best country to spend your retirement, a global study has found.

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The country took second place in the 2017 Natixis Global Asset Management CoreData Global Retirement Index (GRI), which measures the security of people past pension age.

Iceland came third in the ranking ensuring the top three places were occupied by European countries.

The report comes ahead of a vote in September on a reform of the pension system that, if passed, would see the retirement age for women raised to 65 in line with that for men.

The Swiss pension system is considered to be one of the best in the world with a three-pillar structure comprising state, professional and private contributions.

READ ALSO: Bern wants Swiss women to work longer

Switzerland has consistently topped the rankings since the index was launched five years ago.

The study’s authors said pension provision across the globe was challenged by many factors including slow growth, low interest rates and the threat of inflation.

But the key factor was the ageing population, with 600 million people across the globe aged 65 and older.

The index relies on 18 performance indicators, grouped into four thematic areas, to compare the level of retirement security in different countries around the world.

These cover key aspects of welfare in retirement: the material means to live comfortably, access to quality financial services to help preserve savings value and maximize income, access to quality health services, and a clean and safe environment.

Number-one Norway and number-two Switzerland rose to the top of the index based on strong scores in all four areas, the report said.

Switzerland and Norway were the only two countries to rank in the top ten for all four sub-indices.

While retaining its second-place ranking from last year, Switzerland has improved in the material well-being category, the report found.

The country ranked first for environmental factors, showing improvements in both CO2 emissions per GDP and capita compared with last year.

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