Foreign nationals immigrating into Sweden later in life are at risk of earning pensions much lower than those of their native-born counterparts according to Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån), from which officials said in a report that immigrants coming to the Nordic country prior to age 35 have the ability to earn similar pensions to non-immigrants. However, those coming after that age don’t have ample time to do so and are largely supported by public funds.
The report’s authors wrote, “Women and those who immigrated at older ages have considerably lower pensions than other groups. Compared with Swedish born persons, old age pensions of foreign born persons consisted largely of the public pension,” TheLocal.se reports.
The statement added, “Swedish-born pensioners are more likely also to have access to private pension savings or corporate pension schemes. Because foreign born persons have lower pensions, they are in need of housing support for pensioners and maintenance support for the elderly. This particularly applies to those who immigrated later in life.”
Current figures show that pension-aged immigrants account for about 12 per cent of Swedish residents aged 65 and up.