10 countries with the worst retirement security-By Andrea Coombes

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Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) take a break during their offence against the rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in Kirumba village of Rutshuru territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, February 27, 2015. Congolese government forces ousted rebels from hills in heavy fighting in North Kivu province on Friday, an army spokesman said, cranking up a campaign to crush an insurgency at the heart of two decades of conflict. The rebel ranks contain remnants of fighters involved in neighbouring Rwanda's genocide in 1994. Since moving into chaotic eastern Congo, they have sought to exploit the region's rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin and waged periodic war with the Kinshasa government and other armed groups. Picture taken February 27, 2015. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW MILITARY POLITICS SOCIETY)

Northern Europe figures prominently at the top of a new index that ranks countries on retirement security, but the 10 countries at the other end of the scale are all in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report that ranks the outlook for retirees in 150 countries. The top 10 countries share common characteristics that are good news for retirees: developed economies, high-quality health-care systems and robust social safety nets. The U.S. ranked No. 19 for the third year in a row. But the countries at the bottom of the list? Not so much. Some of them have been ravaged by decades of violent conflict; all of them lack quality health care, according to the Natixis Global Retirement Index, published by Natixis Global Asset Management. The study is based on data from the World Bank and World Health Organization, among other sources. The countries are measured on criteria such as access to health care, life expectancy, unemployment, income equality, tax burden, savings yields, investment environment, the country’s overall financial stability, and quality of life, including whether the country provides “a clean, safe environment in which to live,” according to the report. Here are the 10 countries that fare the worst in retirement security, out of 150 countries:

141. Mali2014 ranking: 143

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A protester holds a sign at a rally for Malian unity in Bamako September 25, 2014. (REUTERS/Joe Penney)

Mali is home to world-famous musicians, including Salif Keita and Oumou Sangare, and for more than a decade has hosted the Festival in the Desert, where artists from Mali have been joined onstage by international stars, such as U2’s Bono and others. But the festival currently is on hold due to civil unrest in the country, and that violent conflict is also a key factor negatively affecting the outlook for retirees there. While Mali’s retirement outlook overall is the best among the 10 lowest-ranked nations, the country is among the lowest scorers on health care, garnering just 9% on the health-care subindex. Only Sierra Leone fares worse on that measure, scoring 8% for health care. While some of the worst-performing countries are inching toward greater stability, any successes may be fragile. For example, falling energy prices may hurt some countries, said David Lafferty, chief market strategist with Natixis Global Asset Management.
142. Burundi
2014 ranking: 147

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A voter goes to a voting booth to make her mark at a polling station in Bujumbura, Burundi. (AP Photo/Marc Hof …

After decades of violent conflict, Burundi has made “important democratic gains” in recent years, according to Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group. (Of note, Human Rights Watch said Burundi’s gains are being undermined by the government’s recent arrests of journalists.) Burundi has also made gains in retirement security, moving to No. 142 on the index, from No. 147 a year ago. The country’s overall higher ranking is due in part to a better score on the “material well-being” subindex — which measures per capita income, income equality and unemployment — where it garnered a 21% score, up from 8% a year earlier, according to the Natixis report. Still, the measure has proved volatile: Burundi scored 36% on material well-being in 2013.
143. Liberia
2014 ranking: 138.

Mercy Kennedy cries as community activists approach her outside her home on 72nd SKD Boulevard in Monrovia, Liberia, …

In 2014, Liberia was ravaged by the Ebola virus, with more than 3,800 deaths through Feb. 7 this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But even without that crisis, Liberia and the other nations that rank among the 10 worst for retirement security face deep-seated structural and economic problems. “In general, these nations lack modern infrastructure and have nonexistent or underdeveloped health-care systems,” the Natixis report said. “They have some of the lowest levels of income per capita and are often burdened with substantial barriers to economic development, such as high levels of inflation and sovereign debt. Furthermore, improvement in key indicators seems unlikely in the short term due to these chronic economic issues.”
144. Niger
2014 ranking: 148

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Soldiers stop to buy goods at the main market of Diffa, Niger. (REUTERS/Joe Penney)

Retirement security is probably low on the list of concerns of Niger’s citizens. The country’s neighbor to the south, Nigeria, is in a fight against the militant group Boko Haram, and that conflict is spilling over into Niger’s borders, in the form of raids and other violence. The government in Niger recently agreed to send military troops as part of a regional offensive against Boko Haram, according to recent news reports. To make matters worse, Niger is ranked in the bottom 30 countries on measures of health care, finances in retirement, quality of life and material well-being, according to the Natixis index of retirement security.
145. Sierra Leone
2014 ranking: 139.

A quarantined home in Port Loko, Sierra Leone. (AP Photo/Michael Duff)

Sierra Leone and Liberia have the sad fate of vying for the position of country worst-hit by the 2014 Ebola outbreak, with Sierra Leone suffering from a higher number of cases but lower number of deaths than Liberia, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through Feb. 7. It’s no surprise, perhaps, that Sierra Leone logged the lowest score on the health subindex of the Natixis retirement study, scoring just 8%, “due to an underdeveloped health-care system, poor medical infrastructure and low levels of physicians per capita, which results in low life expectancy and high infant mortality rates,” the report said. At the other end of the heath-care scale, Austria scored 88%. The U.S. came in at 80%.
146. Lesotho
2014 ranking: 144

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A woman carries grain to feed for her animals in a field near Maseru, Lesotho. (AP Photo)

Lesotho is a small, impoverished country entirely surrounded by South Africa, with one of the highest rates of HIV in the world — 23% of adults, according to 2012 data from the CIA’s World Fact Book. Recent political instability is another problem. In Lesotho and similar countries, retirement “is not in the forefront” of people’s minds, said Natixis’s Lafferty. Residents “are really living just to get by. They’re not really saving money in any type of government- or workplace-sponsored plan.”
147. Comoros
2014 ranking: 149

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An Anjouan woman walks through the Medina near the main port of Anjouan, Comoros. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Comoros, a tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean, is one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book, which notes that Comoros is slightly more than 12 times the size of Washington, D.C. In the Natixis retirement-security report, Comoros logged just 10% on the “material well-being” subindex, which includes per capita income, income equality and unemployment — the lowest score of all but one of the 150 countries studied. Central African Republic also scored 10% on that measure; South Africa scored the lowest, at 8%.
148. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)2014 ranking: 145.

People carry bags of charcoal on their bikes as they go down a hill in Mweso, Democratic Republic of Congo. (AP …

Most of the countries in the bottom of the ranking for retirement security still manage to score relatively well on one measure: finances in retirement, which includes retirees’ ability to preserve savings and the soundness of the country’s financial system, according to the Natixis report. The DRC is no exception, scoring 45% on the retirement-finances subindex, higher than Argentina’s 42% and Venezuela’s 35%. So why do the countries with the riskiest retirement outlook score so well on that measure? One word: taxes. Thanks to low tax rates, a number of African countries see their retirement-security score rise. These countries “certainly have less tax pressure,” said David Lafferty, chief market strategist with Natixis Global Asset Management. They also have a much less robust social infrastructure than the countries at the top of the retirement-security index, he said.
149. Central African Republic2014 ranking: 140

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A Christian mob attacks a mosque in Bangui, Central African Republic. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

In the three years of the Natixis retirement-security index, the Central African Republic has posted a stubbornly low score on the “quality of life” subindex. “The countries toward the very bottom of the list tended to remain in fairly stable positions,” the report said. There is, unfortunately, a reason for that. “Tragically, many of the countries are, or have recently been, war zones. For instance, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Libya,” the report said. Since mid-2013, thousands of people have been killed and many more displaced in ongoing violence in the Central African Republic, according to a Feb. 10 story on Reuters.com.
150. Togo2014 ranking: 146

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Togo troops clear rocks from the road during clashes with protesters calling for the president to withdraw from …

Despite the fact that Togo managed to garner 20% on the health-care measure (a relatively robust score compared with Sierra Leone’s 8% and Mali’s 9%), retirees in Togo face substantial risks, particularly on measures of quality of life. “Due to high levels of pollution and few resources in terms of disease prevention, these nations score low in the quality of life/natural environment subindex, with most countries scoring under 50% and the lowest score being 7% for Togo,” the report said.

Culled from MarketWatch