U.S. ranks 17th for top countries for retirement security

The best retirement security isn’t in the United States, according to the 2021 Global Retirement Index.

The annual ranking of the global state of retirement security saw Iceland take the top spot.

“In 2021, the world is full of uncertainties for retirees and those saving for retirement. Security is a critical issue — from the immediate challenges of more waves of the pandemic, to longer-term questions about the environment, geopolitics, and inflation,” French investment management firm Natixis said on the website.

Natixis reviewed four key concerns to evaluate retirement security. They were inflation, low rates, public debt and worries about retirement.

The GRI analyzed 44 countries on five continents and evaluated different factors that drive retirement security, SmartAsset reported. The goal is to assist retirees with determining the best place and most efficient method to maintain wealth in retirement.

“Each year, researchers consider data from a number of sources and develop a composite retirement security score for each country. The scores are based on four different sub-indices that comprise of 18 metrics,” SmartAsset reported. The metrics include retirement finances, health, material wellbeing and quality of life.

The top 25 countries were mostly European. Although the U.S. is down one spot from last year, it still managed to crack the top 20 at No. 17. The country fell because it has lower scores in three of the four sub-indices: health, finances and quality of life.

Top 25 2021 Natixis Global Retirement Index

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