In 1889, the first system of State pension provision was
introduced by German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. At its inception
the system afforded a pension to all those who attained 70 years of
age, although the average life expectancy was of around 37
years of age. With time, came advancements in medical and sanitary
standards, but it also brought with it the challenges of
people's longevity and the sustainability of the pension system
and the economy as a whole.
Today we see a global average retirement pension age of 65, with
an average life expectancy reaching well beyond 75 and 80 in most
developed countries. This trend, coupled with the converse trend of
declining fertility rates in many developed countries, sets the
stage for the inevitable question: "is this sustainable?"
In economic and demographic terms one would simply refer to this as
the 'ageing dependency ratio', that is, how many people who
are past retirement age are 100 people of working age expected
