DENMARK - Confidence in the Danish basic state pension has faded because of perceived pressure on the public purse, as a new poll suggests 50% of younger working women believe the state pension will not exist when they retire.

PKA, one of the largest pension administrators in Denmark with assets under management of about DKK114bn (€15.3bn), surveyed a 1,000 of members of the eight public-sector pension funds it manages. Those polled were aged between 25 and 50, and PKA's membership is 90% female.

Overall, only a third of members believed that the folkepension - the universal means-tested basic state pension which is paid from tax revenues - would be worth the same or more when they retired but six out of 10 thought it would be worth less.

"The pessimism is greatest among the 25- to 40-year-olds," said PKA. "Every second person in this group does not even believe that the folkepension will exist when they are supposed to retire. And among those who believe that there will still be a folkepension when they are old, there is still a lot of scepticism: Seven out of 10 think the folkepension will have been eroded in economic terms."

When a previous survey was conducted 18 months ago, only 52% of this age group thought the basic pension would be worth less.

However, among the over 50s, 90% of respondents were quite sure that the basic pension would still exist when they retired - unchanged from the level shown by the earlier poll.

Respondents held their conviction within the survey that the welfare state of the future would not be able to afford the same basic pension as it does today.

"There has certainly been a significant development over a short period," said PKA's membership manager Britt Brandum of the survey results. "It can be put down to the economic crisis and the view of younger members about the social economy and public spending."

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