Incomes of older people are generally lower than those of the population, even when differences in household size are taken into account. On average in OECD countries, over-65s had incomes of 86% of the population as a whole in the late 2000s. Older people’s incomes grew faster than the population’s between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s in 18 out of 27 countries where data are available. In most OECD countries, public transfers provide the bulk of income in old age.

On average, 12.8% of over 65s in OECD countries live in income poverty, defined as an income below half the national median. There is large variation between countries, from three with practically no old-age poverty to four with poverty rates double the OECD average. Poverty rates are higher for older people than for the population as whole, which averages 11.3%.