31 Countries!

The United States is currently engaged in a national discussion about whether to make personal accounts a part of Social Security.

To date, 31 other countries have implemented some type of individual, or personal, account as part of their mandatory retirement income systems.

This article identifies those countries, categorizes how the individual accounts fit into their retirement income systems, and identifies some basic characteristics of the accounts. The article also mentions a number of other countries that have either passed legislation that has not yet been implemented or are considering adopting individual accounts.

For this discussion, the term individual account will be used to describe plans in other countries that include some type of personal retirement account. Because this analysis of individual accounts is intended to inform the current U.S. debate involving Social Security, the discussion is limited to countries in which such accounts are part or all of a mandatory retirement income program.

Individual Accounts in Other Countries,

Barbara F. Kritzer, Social Scientist, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Office of Policy, Social Security Administration.
 

(Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 66, No. 1, 2005)