- Kenya scored 53.1 out of 100 in its first-ever appearance in the Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, placing it ahead of South Africa
- South Africa ranked 51st out of 55 systems assessed, with its overall score declining from 51.0 in 2025 to 50.4 in 2026
- All four African countries assessed, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and South Africa, received a C grade, signalling significant weaknesses in their retirement systems
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Kenya has outperformed South Africa in a global retirement income study in its debut appearance in the Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, with the 2026 edition placing Kenya at 53.1 out of 100 against South Africa's 50.4.
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The 18th edition of the index, published by Marsh in collaboration with the CFA Institute and the Monash Centre for Financial Studies, assessed 55 retirement income systems covering approximately 66% of the world's population. The global average score was 65.3.
How African countries ranked
Among the four African systems assessed, Namibia led with 57.5, followed by Botswana at 57.0, Kenya at 53.1 and South Africa at 50.4.
South Africa placed 51st out of 55 countries globally. Despite Kenya finishing ahead of South Africa, all four African nations received a C grade, indicating retirement systems with some sound features but also material risks and weaknesses requiring reform.
South Africa's overall score declined from 51.0 in 2025 to 50.4 in 2026, with the report attributing the drop to small reductions across all three of the index's assessment measures: adequacy, sustainability and integrity.
Its adequacy score fell from 38.0 to 37.3 and sustainability from 48.2 to 47.8, while integrity, the country's strongest area, edged down from 75.7 to 75.0 but retained a B+ grade.
The report acknowledged that South Africa maintains pension assets of considerable size relative to gross domestic product and benefits from an established regulatory framework.
However, large numbers of South Africans remain outside formal employment and employer-sponsored retirement arrangements, restricting access to structured savings.
The country also lacks a broad contributory public pension system to complement private schemes, a feature common among higher-ranked nations.
Belinda Sullivan, head of corporate consulting strategy at Alexforbes, called for a focus on outcomes rather than rankings.
"The priority is not simply to improve South Africa's ranking; it is to help more people build savings and turn those savings into an income that lasts," she said. "Broader coverage, consistent contributions and better support for retirement decisions are essential to improving outcomes for more South Africans."
What Kenya's debut ranking means
Kenya's inclusion in the index for the first time reflects the growing scale of its pension sector, which encompasses the National Social Security Fund, occupational schemes and individual plans regulated by the Retirement Benefits Authority.
The index does not publish a full breakdown of Kenya's scores across the three sub-measures for first-time entrants.
The 2026 index introduced a notable methodological change, expanding its replacement-rate measure to assess income adequacy at both retirement and age 80, rather than only at the point workers leave the workforce.
This shift is particularly significant for Kenya, where a large proportion of workers in the informal sector have no formal retirement savings and rely on family networks or small businesses in old age.
At the top of the global ranking, the Netherlands led with 85.8, followed by Denmark and Iceland. Singapore, Israel and Australia also received A grades, reserved for systems considered robust and delivering high levels of financial security.
For Kenyan policymakers, the C grade and the gap with Namibia and Botswana indicate that improving coverage, strengthening minimum contribution requirements and raising retirement income adequacy for low-income earners remain pressing priorities.
South African author earns KSh 145 million from AI-assisted romance books
In other news, South African author and entrepreneur Coral Hart reportedly generated about US$1 million (approximately KSh 145 million) in royalties and sales in less than a year by publishing more than 370 romance books under 21 pseudonyms using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Hart developed the publishing operation after losing ghostwriting contracts to a publishing house that had adopted automated writing technology, prompting her to use AI to expand her own output.
Her workflow combines detailed story outlines, character development, specialised AI tools and human editing to improve plot structure, dialogue and writing quality before publication.
She has since launched PlotProse, a training platform designed to help independent authors develop AI-assisted publishing systems, although the reported earnings do not guarantee similar results for other writers.
Source: TUKO.co.ke