A recent study found that Kenyan retirees are among the poorest in the world, with many elderly people having to work well into their retirement years due to the country’s ineffective pension system.

In contrast to their counterparts in other countries, the majority of Kenyans 65 and older live in poverty, according to a report released by Allianz, a global financial services company. This is because Kenya’s pension system does not provide an adequate standard of living in old age.

According to a section of the Allianz Global Pension Report 2023, “some of the ‘poorest’ pensioners can be found in Kenya, Lebanon, and South Africa, where the gross benefit level is only 15%.”

Kenya has the greatest percentage of adults 65 and older who are still employed, with nearly 70% of its elderly male population employed, as a result of its inadequate pension coverage.

The study found that 64% of the female population in this age range is currently employed. The next country after Kenya is Nigeria, where 50 percent of women and 63 percent of men over 65 are employed respectively.

In December, 776,159 of 869,338 persons over 60 were actively employed, making up 82.1% of the senior population of the nation, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ quarterly jobs report.

Only a small percentage of Kenyans save for their retirement, while millions—particularly those working in the informal sector—are not covered by the pension system.

The government argues that the current contribution is insufficient to secure their future and has been pushing for an increase in NSSF contributions from Sh200 to Sh1,080 each month.

Kenya has launched cash transfers to the elderly as a result of the inadequate retirement payments, hoping to reduce dependency on the working-age population while averting a social crisis. Additionally surveyed were Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Mauritius.