Reforms across Europe linking pension benefits to contributions may push some elderly into poverty.

Since the 1990s, the public pensions landscape in the EU has altered drastically, with reforms changing both the nature of provision and the level of generosity. Looking at the changes made in ten EU countries, Aaron George Grech finds that pensions systems’ effectiveness in alleviating poverty remains strong only in those countries where minimum pensions were improved. However, moves to link benefits to contributions have raised adequacy concerns for women and for those on low incomes which policymakers should try to tackle.