Two-thirds of Irish workers have some form of pension cover

Two-thirds of workers in Ireland had supplementary pension cover in some form, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Pension cover was the highest among workers aged 45 to 54, sitting at 77% overall, and was lowest among younger workers.

The figures show that just one-fifth of workers aged 20 to 24 have some form of pension coverage.

According to the CSO, the State Pension has been cited as the expected main source of income upon retirement for 52% of workers, of whom had no pension coverage. Just over a quarter (26%) hadn't decided how they were going to fund retirement.

When it came to the new Government Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, the intent to participate had increased by 29% from 2024.

The CSO said that 74% of employees aged between 23 and 60 would be willing to remain in the scheme.

Maureen Delamare, Statistician in the Social Modules Division, said: “The results in this release cover pension provision outside of the State Pension.

“The release includes a selection of statistics with additional data available on the CSO’s open data portal, PxStat. Of the people in employment in Q3 (July, August, and September) 2025, more than two-thirds (67%) had pension coverage of some form, outside of the State Pension.

“Pension coverage in 2025 was lowest among younger workers. One in five (20%) of workers in the 20 to 24 years age group had pension coverage of some form in 2025.

“Of those aged 20 to 24 years, females (22%) were more likely than males (17%) to have supplementary pension cover of some form.

The number of people taking out supplementary pension coverage increases with age. Almost three-quarters (74%) of the oldest age group surveyed, people aged 55-69 years, had supplementary pension cover.

“Most supplementary pension cover is with Defined Contribution (69% of pensions) rather than Defined Benefit (26% of pensions). Just 5% had hybrid pension schemes (neither a full Defined Benefit scheme nor a full Defined Contribution scheme, but have some of the characteristics of each).

“Older male workers aged 55 to 69 years with occupational pension cover were in their occupational pension scheme longer than females of similar age. Half (50%) had spent 20 years or more in their occupational pension scheme, compared with just 41% of females in the same age group.

“Awareness of and intent to participate in the Government Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme increased in 2025.

“At an overall level, some 42% of workers were aware of the Government scheme, up from 28% of workers in 2024. Of respondents who will be eligible to be automatically enrolled in the Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings, nearly half (45%) were aware of the retirement savings scheme (up from 29% of eligible workers in 2024), and of these, 77%, whose current employer does not offer pension cover, said they would stay in the scheme if automatically enrolled in it.

“The scheme, introduced in 2026, is aimed at workers aged between 23 and 60 with no occupational pension cover from their current employer.”