Pension Assets in Largest Markets Climbed Almost 11% in 2023

AUM held by institutional asset owners reached $170 trillion last year, according to WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute.



In 2023, the assets of pension systems in the 22 largest pension markets increased to $55.7 trillion, representing a 10.96% increase from $50.2 trillion at the end of 2022, according to WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute’s 2024 global pension assets study.

The study included Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.

The total AUM of institutional asset owners, not just pensions, reached $170 trillion globally. Of this figure, pension funds manage a total of $59.7 trillion, including the $55.7 trillion in the largest markets; insurance funds manage $35.7 trillion, mutual funds manage $60.1 trillion, sovereign wealth funds manage $12.3 trillion and endowments and foundations manage $2.1 trillion.

Largest Pension Markets

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The U.S. continues to be the largest pension market in the study, making up 64% of all assets held in the 22 largest. The U.S. was followed by Japan and the U.K., which held 6.1% and 5.8%, respectively, of the pension assets in the that group of markets.

 The largest pension markets, according to the report.

  1. United States – $35.6 trillion
  2. Japan – $3.385 trillion
  3. United Kingdom – $3.206 trillion
  4. Canada – $3.105 trillion
  5. Australia – $2.448 trillion
  6. Netherlands – $1.737 trillion
  7. Switzerland – $1.361 trillion
  8. South Korea – $1.102 trillion
  9. Germany – $596 billion
  10. China – $423 billion
  11. Mexico – $381 billion
  12. Finland – $284 billion
  13. Malaysia – $278 billion
  14. Brazil – $272 billion
  15. Italy – $243 billion
  16. South Africa – $243 billion
  17. India – $241 billion
  18. Hong Kong – $216 billion
  19. Chile – $199 billion
  20. Ireland – $172 billion
  21. France – $155 billion
  22. Spain – $43 billion

“Pension assets are growing once again—just as the importance of the pensions industry itself consistently increases in a world facing new challenges and opportunities for future prosperity. Growth is back on the agenda,” said Jessica Gao, the Thinking Ahead Institute’s director of research, in the report. “This global growth is not yet rapid, and pension assets remain behind their pre-2022 position, but it is far better than the experience a year before. Inflation has moderated, and as a result financial markets have remained supported by interest rates which appear also to have peaked, at least for now, in most countries.”

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