Most Europeans enjoy a comprehensive social security system, providing them with healthcare, pensions, and unemployment benefits. For a long time, this has kept them worry-free, without the need to wrestle with critical life decisions, like whether to take out a loan to cover surgery, for example. Moreover, they have expected that the contributions they make automatically throughout their working lives will unlock sufficient state-provided pensions in retirement, giving them an adequate income for the rest of their lives.
That may no longer be the case for everyone, however. According to the Alight 2022 Retirement Perception Index, fewer than 35% of Europeans are now ‘highly confident’ that their pension will allow them to maintain a satisfactory standard of living when they retire.