According to Our Life Plan’s research, the United Kingdom is one the worst countries in Europe when it comes to preparing millennials for retirement. Switzerland and Lithuania are the only European countries that rank worse than the UK but not by much. Overall, Switzerland scores 4.56, Lithuania scores 5.54, whilst the UK’s overall score is 5.56.
It’s been revealed that the United Kingdom is the worst country in the category ‘pension percentage of pre-retirement earnings’ at just 28.4%. In contrast, Turkey’s percentage is 93.8%, Italy is 91.8% and Luxembourg 90.1%.
The UK also doesn’t have the best social security retention percentage. Although not the worst, it is only 19.5%. There are 25 countries that have a higher percentage than the UK, 4 of these being more than double: the Czech Republic (44.29%), Slovakia (43.13%), Slovenia (41.97%), and Japan (40.28%).
Furthermore, the United Kingdom comes in the top half of the most expensive countries, for both in and outside of the city centres. In the city centre, the average apartment cost is £4,175.45 and outside of the city centre, £2,963.33.
In Europe, the three cheapest countries are Turkey, Greece and Latvia that are all less than £1500 per square metre. The research calculates that the United Kingdom is 6.7 times more expensive than Turkey, and just over three times more expensive than Greece and Latvia (in the city centre).
Both the UK and Lithuania were very close across all categories, except the life expectancy. The United Kingdom’s life expectancy is five years more than those living in Lithuania – Brits life expectancy is 81, whilst Lithuanians are 76, making the UK’s overall ranking for this category, relatively good.
However, Lithuania’s pension % of pre-retirement earnings is 31%, 2.6% more than in the UK, and their social security retention percentage is 10% higher at 30.62%. It is also one of the cheapest places to live, with average apartment costs at £2,178.09 and £1,315.61 – depending on whether you’re in the city centre or outside of it.
On the other hand, Switzerland’s pension percentage pre-retirement savings is 15% higher than the UK and social security retention is 3.94% higher. Nonetheless, Switzerland is in the top 3 most expensive places to have an apartment, with average prices at £8,917.26 per square metre for a city centre location and £6,275.97 outside of the city centre. These prices drastically altered Switzerland’s overall score, making it 4.65.
Other European countries that aren’t as well prepared for millennials retirement include Latvia, Denmark and Luxembourg.
