Asia's Pension Plans Face a Big Black Hole.

Governments in Asia have been caught ill-prepared by their rapidly aging populations as they struggle to provide adequate pension cover for the elderly.

There is a yawning gap between what’s currently in state pension coffers in Asia and what’s needed to cover the elderly in retirement. And experts say if governments don’t step up pension reforms, they risk a massive funding shortfall.

“Older people already constitute a large proportion of the poor in Asia. And by the middle of this century, there will be more older people in the region than people of working age to support them. This presents a serious policy challenge for governments in the Asia and Pacific region,” said Sri Wening Handayani, principal social development specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a recent report that “many of the Asia-Pacific pension systems are unlikely to prove sustainable in the long term, and aging Asia needs to face up to its pension problems and needs to do so soon.”