April 29, 2026
MANILA – The Philippines is emerging as one of Asia’s “stronger performers in pension coverage,” based on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“It is a sign that more workers are being brought into formal social protection systems,” said Dr. Alicor Panao, an Inquirer data scientist and associate professor at the University of the Philippines.
Based on population coverage, about 55.5% of working-age Filipinos ages 15-65 are enrolled in pension schemes.
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Across Asia, where large informal sectors often exclude workers, this places the Philippines among the region’s leaders, ahead of countries such as Indonesia (16.5%), India (27.2%) and China (48.7%).
Panao said labor force coverage of 92.4% is “even more notable,” noting that the figure is close to those in advanced economies such as Canada (89.1%) and the United Kingdom (93.2%), and not far from the standards observed in OECD countries.
However, the figures deserve modest caution because financial security in retirement depends on consistent, long-term participation.
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“While the Philippines has successfully enrolled 40.49 million members, many may struggle to meet the minimum contribution thresholds required to qualify for full benefits due to a large informal sector,” he said in an analysis of the OECD data.
Likewise, he said “the system faces a critical sustainability challenge linked to demographic shifts.”
The OECD noted that declining fertility rates threaten the financial stability of “pay-as-you-go” pension systems by increasing the ratio of retirees to active contributors.
“Without automatic adjustment mechanisms, such as linking retirement ages or benefits to total contribution growth, the system remains highly sensitive to population aging,” Panao said.
Consequently, while the present reach is strong, “long-term viability is vulnerable to the fiscal pressure of a shrinking pool of workers supporting a growing elderly population,” he said. /dm