2026 Global Retirement Index: how Singapore’s ranking has changed

Global Retirement Index: Singaporeans improve quality of life, but slip in health and wellbeing

Since  World War II, retirement systems have been built around a familiar formula: a government pension, an employer-sponsored plan, and personal savings. The model worked when careers were largely predictable: employees stayed with one company for years, and retirees spent fewer years drawing retirement income.

That world has changed.

People are living longer. Careers are increasingly mobile. Gig work, part-time employment, and self-employment have become permanent features of the workforce. At the same time, inflation, public debt, and growing pressure on government retirement systems have heightened concerns about retirement security.

Singapore is no exception. In Natixis Investment Managers' 2026 Global Retirement Index (GRI) — which ranks countries across 18 performance indicators spanning four sub-indices: Finances in Retirement, Material Wellbeing, Health, and Quality of Life — the city-state holds steady at 13th globally while its scores shift across each dimension, reflecting both its strengths and the pressures reshaping retirement security worldwide.

Singapore's ranking holds steady, Quality of Life score improves

Singapore (72%) maintains its 13th place overall and retains its top position in Asia, ahead of South Korea (20th) and Japan (25th) — even as Norway (83%) and Ireland (81%) continue to lead the global rankings for the second consecutive year. Here is how Singapore performed across each sub-index:

• Quality of Life — Singapore's biggest gain this year: up seven places to 32nd, with its score climbing seven percentage points to 62%, driven by environmental factors (up 34 percentage points), reflecting significant investments in sustainability infrastructure.
  
  
• Finances in Retirement — Score edges down one percentage point, yet Singapore still ranks 5th globally and 2nd in Asia behind South Korea. Improved inflation, low tax pressure, and gains in bank nonperforming loan performance offered support, but a decline on the interest rate indicator weighed on the score. Notably, 40% of Singaporean investors cited interest rates as a top financial concern in Natixis IM's Global Survey of Individual Investors 2025, well above the 25% global average.
  
  
• Health — Singapore dropped six places to 21st, driven by slight declines in life expectancy, health expenditure per capita, and insured health expenditure. The strain is felt on the ground: 68% of Singaporean retirees said healthcare costs ran higher than expected, more than double the 31% global average recorded in the same survey.
  
  
• Material Wellbeing — Ranking slips one place to ninth, with the score down six percentage points to 73%. Strong income per capita and a low unemployment rate remain key advantages, but widening income inequality contributed to the modest decline.

Singapore’s results tell only part of the story.  Around the world there is a growing sense that individuals are being asked to shoulder more of the responsibility of retirement themselves. Seventy-eight percent of investors across 21 countries say they feel it falls on them – a sharp increase from the 67% who felt the same just 10 years ago. The pressure is so great that 43% of investors say it’ll take a miracle to retire securely.

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Explore our 2026 Global Retirement Index