Pension assets grew to US$61.5 trillion by the end of 2024, with a nominal growth rate of 8.5 per cent since the end of 2023, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The final tally for 2024 beat the previous record of $59.7 trillion in 2021, due to significant investment gains seen in equity holdings. However, the report found assets equivalent to 92 per cent of gross domestic product in U.S. dollars was down compared to 105 per cent in 2021.
Pension asset gains were attributed to increasing contributions due to a rise in participating individuals and investment gains, the report said.
Read: Report finds global pension assets increase 4.9% in 2024
Canada saw year-over-year growth of 10.6 per cent in its pension assets, putting it on par with large pension market peers like Australia (10.3 per cent) and the U.S. (10.3 per cent) and ahead of the Netherlands (8.2 per cent) and the U.K. (5.3 per cent). The report found only three jurisdictions saw asset losses in the year — Portugal (negative 0.9 per cent), Guyana (negative 4.1 per cent) and Peru (negative 12.9 per cent).
The U.S. is the largest pension asset market with a total value of $42.9 trillion, followed by Canada at $3.5 trillion.