BOSTON, September 9, 2025 – The United States inched up in the rankings to 21st best country for retirees according to this year’s Global Retirement Index (GRI) from Natixis Investment Managers (Natixis IM). Strengthening financial conditions and longer life expectancy in the United States helped offset the effects of a cooling labor market and a decline in happiness scores. At the same time, optimism among Americans is on the rise: just 21% now say it will take a “miracle” to retire. Still, 69% believe the world feels unstable and worry about the impact on their finances.

Developed with CoreData Research, Natixis IM’s Global Retirement Index benchmarks global retirement readiness using 18 measures across four sub-indices – Finances, Material Well-being, Health, and Quality of Life – covering financial, health, environmental, governance, and well-being factors. Rankings, scored from 0-100%, provide an overall view of the retirement environment.

“This year’s Global Retirement Index paints a complex and cautious picture regarding people’s anxiousness about a comfortable retirement,” said Dave Goodsell, Executive Director of the Natixis Center for Investor Insight. “Only four years ago, in 2021, 41% of Americans told us, it would ‘take a miracle’ to retire securely, yet this year, we’ve learned that almost half that number (21%) of Americans share that view. Nonetheless, US retirement savers are still worried about inflation’s impact on savings, public debt and Social Security benefits, as well as lingering uncertainty if their retirement funds have enough savings to fund longer than expected retirements.”

In a survey of 750 US individual investors*, Natixis Investment Managers found:

• 10th in finances in retirement: The US climbed five places in the Finances in Retirement sub-index – its greatest rise – after ranking within the top 20 countries for various financial indicators including bank nonperforming loans, interest rate, tax pressure, and old-age dependency. However, government indebtedness remains a challenge due to current spending practices.
• 24th in material well-being: While the US lost points for its worsening income inequality and slight uptick in unemployment as the labor market cools, the declines were offset by an increase in income per capita, allowing the country to maintain its rank as 24th in Material Well-Being.
• 24th in health: The US improved its ranking, from 27th to 24th, in the Health sub-index, with the country maintaining its perfect score in health expenditure per capita and seeing gains in life expectancy following the pandemic.
• 25th in quality of life: A decline in happiness, particularly among younger Americans as they face higher levels of loneliness, bumped the US down to 25th from 23rd in the Quality-of-Life sub-index. 

Under the surface, Americans feel unease about inflation, benefits and savings

Fueled by a buoyant market of 20%+ returns from the S&P 500^®, Americans appear optimistic about their retirement savings and investments. In fact, half of American investors reported that market returns for the past two years have made investing look easy. Those in retirement are also expressing optimism, with 43% of retirees reported they were “living the dream.” Yet, Americans are reporting almost a half million-dollar gap in their average retirement savings, $1.048M, versus what they expect they need for retirement, $1.490M, and are expressing concerns about:

• Living longer than expected: Americans expect to retire at age 64 and anticipate spending an average of 22 years in retirement. Yet factors such as layoffs and job departures tied to AI disruption, job dissatisfaction, health issues, and other unexpected events make it difficult to know how long they will remain in the workforce or how long their retirement will last. Nearly half (45%) cite not having enough money to enjoy retirement as their top concern, a worry shared globally. Adding to this unease, 78% believe government programs fail to account for today’s longer life expectancy.
• Increasing public debt and dwindling Social Security benefits: The second-greatest fear among Americans – shared by 41% of respondents – is that government benefits will be cut. This concern is fueled by the nation’s growing public debt, with more than three-quarters (76%) believing it will lead to reduced retirement benefits. Without those benefits, over half (52%) say making ends meet would be difficult.
• Pessimism about inflation remains: With inflation still hovering above the Federal Reserve’s at the 2% target, 67% of Americans report that it is significantly eroding the future value of their retirement savings. Another 41% take a more dire view that inflation is “killing” their dreams of retirement, with 60% saying they are saving less due to the higher cost of everyday expenses and 57% saying investment gains are being whittled away by inflation. Pessimism prevails about inflation, with only 26% saying heightened inflation is in the rearview mirror.

“According to this year’s Global Retirement Index, 81% of Americans say it is increasingly their responsibility to fund their retirement. While, at the same time, retirement planning has never been more complex,” said Liana Magner, EVP and Head of Institutional and Retirement in the US at Natixis IM. “By offering personalized solutions with access to both public and private markets, financial service providers can help individuals build reliable income plans and retire with confidence.”

Instead of simply feeling this burden of saving for retirement, many non-retired Americans are taking concrete steps to prepare:

• 64% say they are saving more and cutting expenses, 
• 47% are creating long-term financial plans, 
• 34% are estimating future retirement costs, 
• and 32% are seeking professional financial advice.

For retirees who have already worked with an advisor, 69% report it as the most helpful step in strengthening their financial security in retirement.

View and download a full copy of the report here.