The Future of Retirements

The Future of Retirement I done in the year 2005 is the largest global survey ever conducted that investigated the issues that really matter to people; their hopes, dreams, priorities, aspirations and fears for later life. In the following year, the Future of Retirement II: What the world wants surveyed on attitudes to ageing, longevity and retirement comparing the attitudes of employers and consumers regarding ageing and retirement.

The third annual edition of the HSBC Future of Retirement global survey covered 21,000 people aged between 40 and 79 years, in 21 mature and transitional countries and territories around the world*. For the first time in the survey, participants were divided into four age groups, each spanning 10 years to study the effect of age on their attitudes towards ageing, later life and retirement. This also made it possible to compare the experiences of those approaching retirement - their expectations and fears - with the reality of those who have gone through retirement and are now retired.

The countries the survey was carried out are Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and USA. Mature economies are taken as those that industrialized early, have large service sectors, affluent populations, long-established pensions, infrastructure and legislation and provide a comprehensive welfare safety net for their citizens. A transitional economy is one that does not yet meet the definition of a mature economy. In this survey the transitional economies are Brazil and Mexico in Latin America; Russia and Turkey in Europe; China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan in Asia; and South Africa and Saudi Arabia in Africa and the Middle East

When commissioning this study, HSBC partnered with experts from the Oxford Institute of Ageing, and the market research company Harris Interactive