The share of reversion in women’s retirement declines over generations

Source: Studies and Results No. 951, February 2016

Author: Christel Collin

At the end of 2012, a quarter of pensioners, or 4.3 million people living in France or abroad, receive a survivor’s pension. A large majority of them are women 60 years of age or older. Of these secondary pensioners, 1.1 million do not receive a direct pension.

Among pensioners as a whole, reversion accounts for a quarter of women’s pensions and a negligible share of men’s pensions. It accounts for half of the retirement of beneficiaries of a survivor’s pension. Its share of total retirement was higher for widows of older generations who had lower direct rights than for current retirees.

On average, women receive a survivor’s pension of EUR 642, more than twice that of men (EUR 304). Before their death, the latter benefited from a higher pension than that of women. The amount of the survivor’s pension paid to women is therefore mechanically higher. In schemes where there is a ceiling of resources for reversion, widowed men also exceed this ceiling more often.