Poland and Germany—a comparison of systems and pension reforms in both countries

Aim of the following paper was to compare changes in the German and Polish pension systems caused by demographic and labour market trends observed in recent decades. Since 1990s, those changes were similar in two systems although ways to reach the goal differed. Both countries have obligatory public components of the pension system. There are also so called second pillars, i.e. employees pension plans in Germany and obligatory open pension funds in Poland. Then, there exists the third pillar—voluntary savings for the old age—linked to tax exemptions or subsidies. The result of the described reforms aremore favourable forecasts of the financial stability of both pension systems. Another one is also future (and already observed in Germany) increase in the effective retirement age and employment rate of older workers.