Spain has worst quality of retirement in the EU, study claims

New rankings have revealed that Spain has the worst quality of retirement in the EU, falling behind countries like Russia and Mexico on the international index.

Spain has long been a popular retirement destination for foreigners but it is the worst country in the EU to retire, a new report has concluded.

Spain recently came in 39th place in a world ranking that compared 44 countries, but it remains the worst in the EU, the third consecutive year that Spain has been at the bottom of the European index, according to data from the Global Retirement Index 2025 (GRI) by Natixis Investment Managers.

This contrasts with the majority of rankings that classify Spain as a good place to retire to, especially for so-called 'expats'.

The Natixis analysis takes into account a wide range of factors important to enjoy a healthy and secure retirement. In addition to finances and pensions, it considers access to and cost of healthcare, climate, governance and the general wellbeing of the population.

Spain remains in 39th out of 44 with a score of 48/100, only ahead of Brazil, China, Turkey, Colombia and India, and behind Russia and Mexico.

Despite being at the bottom of the rankings, Spain did show improvement this year in some indicators, such as in the health category, where it moved up one place to fifth in the life expectancy category with a score of 94 percent.

Spain's national stats body INE forecasts life expectancy to continue rising in the country. Life expectancy at birth could reach 86.0 years in men and 90.0 in women by 2071, rises of 5.8 and 4.2 years compared to current life expectancy figures.

Demographic models forecast that Spain will surpass Japan as the country with the highest average life expectancy by 2040.

However, broader structural problems in the economy seem to be pulling down retirement scores.

"The GRI 2025 results are a reminder of the challenges Spain has been facing for years in terms of employment and productivity, which continue to weigh on our position in the ranking. At the same time, the strength of our healthcare system and high life expectancy are assets that we must preserve and that reflect very positive aspects of our society," said Javier García de Vinuesa, head of Natixis Investment Managers for the Iberia region.

Spain's scores also fell for elderly dependency and non-performing bank loans. However, the main drag continued to be high unemployment, an indicator in which Spain was once again at the bottom of the rankings and pushes down the overall score.

A non-contributory pension in Spain for those who haven't worked enough to qualify for a regular pension is €564 a month on average, spread over 14 payments a year.

Norway topped the index this year with an overall score of 83 percent, displacing last year's leader, Switzerland (81 percent), which now ranks third behind Ireland (82 percent).

Denmark made the biggest leap into the top ten, moving up from ninth to fifth place, and Slovenia entered the top ten for the first time.

It has been noted in the Spanish press that, according to the index methodology itself, smaller countries have an advantage in terms of retirement rankings. Germany, which came 8th in the ranking, was the only large, developed country to enter the top ten.

In a narrower ranking of large developed countries, Spain came tenth, behind Germany, the UK, Canada, the US, South Korea, Japan, France, Poland and Italy.

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Spain has worst quality of retirement in the EU, study claims