The UK state pension rose by the joint greatest amount in Europe this year thanks to the triple lock – but retirees still receive far less than many of their neighbours in the EU.
The full new state pension in the UK works out at an average of £241.30 per week – or £1,045.63 a month – after a 4.8 per cent rise in April 2026 in line with average earnings, an increase matched only by Denmark.
The big boost comes amid concerns about the future of the triple lock – which sees the state pension rise each year by whichever is highest out of wage growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent – with some seeing the guarantee as an unsustainable expense.
However, the UK state pension ranks far below many other European countries with pensioners in Luxembourg receiving over five times those in the UK and those in Switzerland over double, according to data compiled by Almond Financial.
The difference between maximum entitlement in the UK and that in the top ranking countries has also grown by hundreds of pounds since 2025.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said that the triple lock increases “barely scratch the surface of the yawning gap between EU and UK state pensions”, describing the UK’s big percentage increase as “4.8 per cent of not very much”.
The i Paper looks at how the UK’s state pension stacks up against others in Europe.
Luxembourg
£4,673.75 more a month than in the UK (£4,429.18 in 2025)
Pensioners in Luxembourg enjoy the most comfortable retirement in Europe, with their maximum monthly state pension five times higher than in the UK.
Luxembourg pays out a maximum of £5,719.38 per month to retirees, according to Almond Financial, ranking first on a list of 28 European countries on its index.
There are three types of pensions in Luxembourg – a public state pension, a company pension, and a personal pension.
According to a OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report last year, Luxembourg spent much more on the state pension system than the UK, spending 8.6 per cent of GDP on old-age pensions, compared to 7.1 per cent in the UK.
It should be noted that the UK figure is from 2022 and the Luxembourg figure from 2021, so may have since changed.
Switzerland
£1,355.06 more a month than in the UK (£659.25 in 2025)
Switzerland pays their state pensioners a maximum amount of £2,400.69 per month.
The country’s system is made up of three parts: the state-run pension scheme for the elderly, orphans, and surviving spouses, the pension funds run by investment foundations, and voluntary, private investments.
Known for its expensive cost of living, Switzerland spends 6.6 per cent of GDP on state pensions, according to the OECD data.
The country rose to second place from third in the rankings, swapping places with Norway.
Norway
£1,118.26 more a month than in the UK (£841.48 in 2025)
You can start drawing your pension from the month after your 67th birthday in Norway, with the maximum amount you will receive being £2,163.89, according to the data.
People accumulate pension rights by earning a pensionable income and living in Norway. For each year you have an income exceeding the average national insurance basic amount (in Norwegian), you earn pension points. And the more pension points you have, the closer to age 62 you can draw the state pension.
In terms of public expenditure on state pensions in Norway, the research shows that the country spends less than the UK – 6.5 per cent – in terms of GDP.
Denmark
£836.62 more a month than in the UK (£488.91 in 2025)
In Denmark, the maximum amount retirees can get from the state pension each month is £1,882.25.
The “folkepension”, as it’s called in Danish, is paid by the government to people who have reached state pension age – which is currently 67 and set to rise to 70 from 2040, increasing with average life expectancy. How much you receive depends on a range of factors including age, marital status, work status and history, and where in the world you live or have lived.
Denmark spent 7.5 per cent of GDP on state pensions in 2021, the data revealed.
Sweden
£595.67 more a month than in the UK (£376.14 in 2025)
The Swedish system is similar to the one in Luxembourg in that it is made up of three parts: a national public pension from the state, an occupational pension from your employer, and any savings or assets that you may have.
The national public pension is based on your total income in Sweden throughout your working life.
Every year that you work and pay taxes, you earn towards your national public pension.
The Swedish Pensions Agency administers and pays out the national public pension – which according to Almond Financial is a maximum of £1,641.30 per month.
Sweden spends 8 per cent of GDP on state pensions.
The UK
In the UK, once you reach state pension age – which is currently 66 and gradually increasing each month since 6 May 2026 – you can claim the full new state pension – worth £1045.63 per month.
This rose by 4.8 per cent in April this year under the triple lock, which ensures the state pension rises by the highest of inflation, average wage growth, or 2.5 per cent.
To receive the full amount of the new state pension, you need to have at least 35 qualifying years of national insurance (NI) contributions. If you have fewer than 35 years, you’ll still get a portion of the state pension, but not the full amount.
7.1 per cent of GDP is spent on state pensions in the UK.
Former UK shadow pensions minister Gregg McClymont pointed out that in countries such as those mentioned above, the systems work quite differently to that of Britain.
They do not have the UK’s major workplace pension system, with their state pensions therefore required by design – and financed by general taxation – to provide bigger incomes.
He said: “There are also in the UK additional payments including pension credit and housing benefit for poorer pensioners, and second state pension entitlements critical to assessing overall income, but which do not always show up in the size of state pension comparisons.”
While most countries index the state pension with wage growth, the triple lock has historically resulted in a much greater increase in the UK leaving pensioners better off than they would otherwise be.
However, this also means that the triple lock is a large expense on the government – an expense that some people think is too great and unsustainable, with the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasting that the government could spend £15.5bn more a year on the state pension by 2030.
Andy Burnham has publicly backed the triple lock in line with the promises made in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
How more comparable pension systems work
Jonathan Cribb, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said that comparisons were usually most sensible to make with countries that structure their pensions system in a similar way to the UK.
Mr Cribb, head of retirement, savings, and ageing at the IFS, cited as examples “those that use a mix of state and private pensions to deliver pensions, rather than countries like France and Germany that pretty much only used state pensions”.
Australia, Canada, and the US all have systems that resemble, to some extent, the UK’s. Here’s how they work:
Australia
Politicians and pension professionals have previously pointed to Australia’s pension system, which invests heavily in infrastructure, as one that the UK should emulate.
The two already have similarities. The UK introduced auto-enrolment in 2012, roughly reflecting the system Australia imposed in 1992.
But there are significant differences between the Australian superannuation and the British pension system. The biggest is that in Australia contributions come largely from the employer, and they are compulsory.
Canada
Both employers and employees contribute to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), which is based on a percentage of the employee’s earnings up to a certain limit known as the earnings ceiling, or the year’s maximum pensionable earnings.
Self-employed individuals must pay both the employer and employee portions.
These CPP contributions are then used to fund different benefits that help Canadians during retirement or if they experience a disability.
USA
Unlike the UK, which has a single state pension system that applies to all, there is no single US programme in America. Instead, adults of retirement age, as well as individuals with disabilities, rely on social security payments.
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