Lifelong Income

We are launching the Living Pension, a new concept built on WageIndicator’s Living Wage methodology. It calculates the monthly income an individual needs to maintain a basic but dignified standard of living in old age in 182 countries.
The launch will happen on 30 November 2026 during the 2nd International Conference: Work, Wages and Workforce at FLAME University, Pune, India.
You can watch the launch live on our YouTube channel, starting at 2 pm IST.
To receive a reminder and a press release afterwards, please send an email to: wageindicator@flame.edu.in.

Is the income people receive in old age enough to live on? The Living Pension is WageIndicator's answer to that question. It is defined as the minimum income an individual needs to maintain a basic but dignified standard of living after retirement. It is based on a cost-of-living basket specific to each country and region, and it is calculated for an individual, independent of whether they live alone or with family. We are developing Living Pension estimates for 185 countries in local currencies. The framework also develops a funding rate – the share of a person’s working-life Living Wage that must be set aside to finance retirement.

How do countries protect people's income in old age? The WageIndicator Global Pensions and Old-Age Income Security Database is a comprehensive, globally comparable resource on pension systems. It is built on a World Bank model that treats old-age income security as a combination of multiple funding arrangements since no single pension instrument can do everything. The database captures not only what the law prescribes but also what happens in practice.

The database will be available soon. Contact us for more information!

To cover your expenses throughout your life, you need a lifelong income. But how should you plan for it, and what if your country has no system in place to help?

The Lifelong Income Show brings together experts from around the world to explore how people meet their needs from working life through to old age. Each episode looks at a different question: why more people are working later in life, how pension systems treat women and men, what to do when there is no safety net, and so on.

If your future feels equally unclear, whether you're still working or already retired, come along, share your thoughts or just listen in.

Find the full programme below!

Behind every pension plan is a living, breathing human being with a lifetime of hard work and sacrifices. Life Stories brings together first person accounts of their experiences of paid work, unpaid care and retirement. These narratives help us understand how people make a living throughout their lives, and how pensions and other sources of support shape life after paid work.