Policy issues: Coverage and adequacy

The general issue of coverage and more specifically contribution density is covered in . Coverage, defined both as the proportion of workers participating in pension schemes and the proportion of the elderly receiving some kind of pension income, continues to be the most important pension challenge in the region. In the two decades that followed the pension reforms in Latin America, the share of workers contributing to a pension system of any kind barely changed in most countries, leading to a growing emphasis on policies that would address the stubborn coverage gap. While two countries may have similar, even identical system designs, a significant difference in the patterns of contribution or life expectancy at retirement age would in practice, yield different actual outcomes. Recognising the particular importance of this limitation for Latin America where there is evidence of low contribution density, especially at the lower end of the income scales,  of the report extends the usual micro-level analysis and reports on the sensitivity of the results.